“Different from” vs “different than”
This essay would amount to a subjective interpretation, given that I am not a linguist, and certainly not a grammarian. For, to the seeming disbelief of many, I have forgotten much of the grammar that I learnt at school. In other words, my essay is based purely on how the usages of both ‘sound’ to me. They could ‘sound’ otherwise to someone else. Therefore, this essay is not to be treated as gospel, and it would certainly be helpful were it not regarded as an appalling violation of the hallowed rules of grammar.
To me, the word ‘than’ conveys an emphasis not so much on the difference itself as on the precise implications of the said difference.
For instance, ‘more than’ is an unambiguous indication of a difference, but is also indicative of the nature of that difference. ‘More than’ = ‘In greater quantity than’ or ‘Of greater mass than’ or ‘Of better quality than’ and suchlike. At the very outset, I have a plethora of implications of these phrases. For instance, ‘in greater quantity than’ could be positive, in that a greater quantity (of anything) is available for our use, or negative, in that a greater quantity (of anything) needs to be expended by us.
In a sentence, the emphasis on the implications becomes much more evident. Consider for instance, “I am more skilled at public speaking than you are.” This to me is a perfect example of a greater emphasis on the precise implications of that ‘more-ness’ than on the ‘more-ness’ itself. Depending on the context, it could mean “It would better serve us to have me than you take up the role of press secretary” or “It would better serve us to present me than you as our school representative for the inter-school speech competition”, or, more important still for students, “I would be a far better professor than you” (assuming their conversance with the subject is not of remarkable difference). These three implications, besides many potential others, are of greater importance than the fact that one is more skilled than the other. That, to me, is the essence of using ‘than’.
Were we to accept this essence of using ‘than’, it would not be of fruitful use in conjunction with ‘different’.
‘Different than’ conveys no more meaning than the dissimilarity between two objects or persons, and fails to fulfil the prerequisite of laying emphasis more on the precise implications of the difference than on the difference itself. The implications are evident only when used in a sentence, and even then only when further elaboration is adduced.
On the other hand, I have in my answer laid no such burden on the word ‘from’. And given that the word ‘different’ is more ambiguous in terms of implications than ‘more’ or ‘less’, it could be a substitute for ‘than’.
Consider for instance, “I have an approach to the resolution of this quandary that is different from that of yours”. Certainly, it indicates comparison, but the substantive meaning of this ‘difference’ is not forthwith evident. The ‘approach’ mentioned in the above sentence may be better than, worse than or as efficient as the approach that has been proposed by the one being addressed in it. But that is also not as relevant as the fact that the speaker’s approach is different. That difference alone is being emphasized in the immediate sense; its implications are not.
However, this is precisely where this essay becomes subjective. What reason have I to lay the aforementioned burden on ‘than’? Why not on ‘from’? I have no reason. It is just a matter of expediency; just as it is expedient for words to be spelt and pronounced the way they conventionally are (the difference being that the expediency of the latter is of greater importance than that of the former).
This explains that sole sentence in the second paragraph of this essay, “To me, the word ‘than’ conveys an emphasis not so much on the difference itself as on the precise implications of the said difference.” The words ‘to me’ are as operative as those in the rest of the sentence; it illustrates that my essay is but a subjective view.
It is not so much out of concern with the ease of another’s comprehension as my own predilection to be meticulous in my answers, that leads me to be so clarificatory. No wonder, then, that the “edits” section on my Quora account are often replete with punctuation corrections, substitutions of some words with their synonyms which would make the sentence sound to me more euphonious, deletion of such words as I regard as superfluous, as well as (albeit rarely) some rather mortifying errors such as incomplete sentences.
As a matter of fact, there is a third usage which seems to be prevail to a noticeable degree in the United States. That usage is ‘different to’. For instance, “The movie version of Jurassic Park is different to the novel version.”
Unless grammar were to explicitly declare one form valid and the rest invalid, and I must emphasize that I am unaware of grammar’s ruling on this, I should think it fit for one to use any or all of them in accordance with his or her predilections.
