different from yours/different to you

[diamondcutter]

1.Tom has a hobby different from yours.

2.Sam goes somewhere different to you in his free time.

(From Kid’s Box 6, an English textbook for kids, CUP)

I wonder if “different from yours” in Sentence 1 and “different to you” in Sentence 2 are interchangeable. And I’d also like to know if “different from you” and “different to yours” make sense in the two sentences.

 

[Rover_KE]

They're not interchangeable, and they both make sense.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, Rover.

I try to make what I want to ask more clearly.
Do all these sentences make sense?

1.Tom has a hobby different from yours.
2.Tom has a hobby different to yours.
3.Tom has a hobby different from you.
4.Tom has a hobby different to you.

5.Sam goes somewhere different to you in his free time.
6.Sam goes somewhere different from you in his free time.
7.Sam goes somewhere different to yours in his free time.
8.Sam goes somewhere different from yours in his free time.

 

[teechar]

Take a look at the explanation in the following link.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/gr...different-from-different-to-or-different-than

 

[SoothingDave]

In number 2, I would say "different than you."

 

[emsr2d2]

In number 2, I would say "different than you."

(Br) I spend a lot of time reminding my students to use "different from" and "similar to", never "than".

 

[GoesStation]

"Different than" emerged in American English when I was around thirty, or at least that's when I started to notice it. It's always felt wrong to me but it's widely established. I say "different from". Different to doesn't exist in American English.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Different to" doesn't work in BrE, either. I hope my post didn't suggest that it does.

 

[jutfrank]

"Different to" doesn't work in BrE, either. I hope my post didn't suggest that it does.

I really don't like different to, either, but it certainly is extremely common in British English.

 

[jutfrank]

"Different than" emerged in American English when I was around thirty, or at least that's when I started to notice it.

That's interesting. I wonder if our other North American members wouldn't mind commenting on when they first noticed this usage of than.

 

[Tarheel]

Sam goes someplace different to you in his free time.

Whoever wrote that is comparing a place to a person. I would like to know what that sentence is supposed to mean.

 

[SoothingDave]

Sam goes one place. You go to another. The places you go are different from one another.

 

[Tarheel]

Thanks, SoothingDave! (I don't think I had ever run across the phrase "different to you" before.)

:up:

 

[GoesStation]

(I don't think I had ever run across the phrase "different to you" before.)

It's common in British English, though not all speakers accept it.

 

[Phaedrus]

(Br) I spend a lot of time reminding my students to use "different from" and "similar to", never "than".

Of course, if A and B differ more than (do) C and D, then it is true to say that A and B are more different than (are) C and D.

That is, A and B are more different from each other than C and D are different from each other.