Indifferent

[polokoza]

Hello,

can you help me with the correct use of INDIFFERENT? I need to say that some animal did not show any preference to several types of habitat.

Which one is correct:

1. The animals were indifferent to the type of habitat.
2. The type of habitat was indifferent to the animals.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[emsr2d2]

Hello,

can you help me with the correct use of INDIFFERENT? I need to say that some animal did not show any preference to several types of habitat.

Which one is correct:

1. The animals were indifferent to the type of habitat.
2. The type of habitat was indifferent to the animals.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Ignoring, for a moment, that I don't think that animals can be described as indifferent, sentence 1 would be correct. Someone is indifferent to something, not the other way round.

[billmcd]

Hello,

can you help me with the correct use of INDIFFERENT? I need to say that some animal did not show any preference to several types of habitat.

Which one is correct:

1. The animals were indifferent to the type of habitat.
2. The type of habitat was indifferent to the animals.

Thanks for any suggestions.

As emsr2d2 has suggested, usually people are indifferent, not animals or objects.

[Nantes]

It's the first one.

[polokoza]

Thanks for your help!

So, the best sentence when I need to say that some animals were evenly distributed over several types of habitat, i.e. they did not care about the type of habitat as they did not prefer any of them (of those studied and described), would be:

The animals did not show any preference to several types of habitat.

or

The animals did not show any preference to any of the habitats.

?

Thanks again!

[Barb_D]

The animals did not show any preference to any of the habitats.

This one.

[Hedwig]

I would have said the animals didn't show preference for any of the habitats. Is this also correct?

Prepositions: a never-ending nightmare.

[Barb_D]

Yes, you're right. "For" is the right choice.

[billmcd]

I would have said the animals didn't show preference for any of the habitats. Is this also correct?

Prepositions: a never-ending nightmare.

Or: "show a preference"