Different from — Sentence Correction Aptitude Question
Different from: Choose the correct sentence: Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Sentence Correction
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time target: 40 seconds
Question
Choose the correct sentence:
Options
- His answer is different than mine.
- His answer is different from mine.
- His answer is different to mine than yours.
- His answer is differing from mine.
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: B. His answer is different from mine.
Worked solution
- The accepted form is different from.
- 'Different than' is widely regarded as incorrect in formal English.
Answer: His answer is different from mine.
The idea
Prepositions after adjectives are fixed by idiom: different from, similar to, superior to, capable of, afraid of.
Shortcut. Pair the adjective with its verb: things 'differ from' each other, so they are 'different from'. That removes 'than' and 'to … than' at once, and 'differing' is the wrong form.
Common trap. "His answer is different than mine." — common in American speech and it sounds like an ordinary comparison, but formal English, which these papers test, uses 'different from'.