Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Different Than vs Different From

His approach to singing is .

A) different than the approach used by any other tenor

B) different from the approach used by any other tenor

C) different from the approach which is used by any other tenor

D) different then the approach of any other tenor

E) different from the approach of any other tenor


Explanation:
(E)
Different than is grammatically incorrect. The correct version of the idiom (different from) appears only in choices (B), (C) and (E). Moreover, Choice (D) uses 'Different then' which changes the meaning and makes no sense. Choice (C) contains 'used by' which is a passive voice construction, almost always avoided by ETS. The correct answer is (E).
B is probably more wordier than E.

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