different to mine vs different from

[ostap77]

What do you say:

"His accent is different to mine."

OR

"His accent is different from mine."

OR

"His accent is different than mine."

 

[Munch]

"His accent is different to mine." is what I would usually say, I think.

"His accent is different from mine." is the most common and will keep you safe from the language police. I might say this version too.

"His accent is different than mine." is used in spoken American English.

My source.

 

[birdeen's call]

This source says "different to" is British.

 

[Munch]

This source says "different to" is British.

Yes thanks, so does mine now I read it.

As it says near my name, I am Australian. Our speech is generally a little closer to British than American.

 

[Barb_D]

Wow! Another one I had no idea about. I would have said "different to" is wrong!

Different from sounds right to my American ears.

 

[Abstract Idea]

Wow! Another one I had no idea about. I would have said "different to" is wrong!

Different from sounds right to my American ears.

It is always good to learn different flavors and flavours of English.
Thanks to all posters.

 

[Raymott]

I always say "different from".
A differs from B. A doesn't differ to B or differ than B.
But you'll hear all of those used with the adjective.

 

[Munch]

I always say "different from".
A differs from B. A doesn't differ to B or differ than B.
But you'll hear all of those used with the adjective.

Yeah, it is (always?) "differs from", but "different" is, well, different. The Elements of Style uses your argument Raymott, but you have to take what that book says with care.

 

[Raymott]

Yeah, it is (always?) "differs from", but "different" is, well, different. The Elements of Style uses your argument Raymott, but you have to take what that book says with care.

Yes, 'different' differs from 'differ'. But there's often a common usage of prepositions for the various parts of speech of a base word.
If A is similar to B, there is a similarity of A to B. (adj, noun)
If you separate A from B, A becomes separate from B. (verb, adj)

I also prefer "different from" because almost everyone agrees that at least that form is correct, no matter what they use themselves. That is a good teaching principle for ESL when you have a world-wide audience, such as here.