|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 8, 2014 14:10:25 GMT -5
I do love Spanish, though. I'm doing my best to learn the ins and outs. Someday, maybe I'll get good enough so that my mother-in-law stops saying, "Aaaadam. You must practice! Work hard at the Spanish! Open the ears!"  Heh, heh. When your parrots start giving you a hard time about your pronunciation, then you'll really be in trouble.  |
|
|
|
Post by The Scroggins! on Mar 8, 2014 14:22:17 GMT -5
I do love Spanish, though. I'm doing my best to learn the ins and outs. Someday, maybe I'll get good enough so that my mother-in-law stops saying, "Aaaadam. You must practice! Work hard at the Spanish! Open the ears!" Heh, heh. When your parrots start giving you a hard time about your pronunciation, then you'll really be in trouble. Hehe. I know, right? One of my babies (the Blue Crown Conure - Princess Leia) doesn't understand a word of Spanish. She thinks we're barking when we speak it, so she starts barking too. ME: ¡Hola, Princesa Leia! ¡Buenos días! ¿Cómo estás, mi amor? Princess Leia: RUFF! RUFF!
Wife: /facepalm
It's kind of adorable. |
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 8, 2014 14:29:01 GMT -5
Heh, heh. When your parrots start giving you a hard time about your pronunciation, then you'll really be in trouble. Hehe. I know, right? One of my babies (the Blue Crown Conure - Princess Leia) doesn't understand a word of Spanish. She thinks we're barking when we speak it, so she starts barking too. ME: ¡Hola, Princesa Leia! ¡Buenos días! ¿Cómo estás, mi amor? Princess Leia: RUFF! RUFF!
Wife: /facepalm
It's kind of adorable. That's super-cute.  |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 8, 2014 14:31:55 GMT -5
hey, I learned English in Sweden in a French school!
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 8, 2014 14:35:24 GMT -5
hey, I learned English in Sweden in a French school! Turned out flawless! |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 8, 2014 14:39:46 GMT -5
Thank you! mwah!  |
|
|
|
Post by whdean on Mar 9, 2014 12:55:50 GMT -5
I think ML is right. It’s a case of confusing informal usage with ungrammatical usage. Merriam-Webster accepts the use of “couple” as an adjective in some cases in British English (“a couple more”/”a couple less”) and in American English (“a couple hundred”) and informally (“a couple dogs”). You wouldn’t normally see the American usage in edited non-fiction because you wouldn’t normally use “couple” unless you meant “pair/two.”
The different from/different than/different to are sometimes mishandled in grammar and usage guides because noun phrases can go between the items compared. For example, Canadian English uses “different from” unless you have a noun between: “Smith’s dog is different from Jones’ dog”; “Smith owns a different dog than Jones does.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 9, 2014 14:19:00 GMT -5
What about 'different to'? That's what I was taught by my British-English teacher.
|
|
|
|
Post by mlhearing on Mar 9, 2014 14:43:23 GMT -5
[quote author=" whdean" source="/post/8921/thread" timestamp="1394387750" The different from/different than/different to are sometimes mishandled in grammar and usage guides because noun phrases can go between the items compared. For example, Canadian English uses “different from” unless you have a noun between: “Smith’s dog is different from Jones’ dog”; “Smith owns a different dog than Jones does.” [/quote] I don't think it's the intervening noun that makes the difference--rather, it's the verb. 1. "different from" - Smith's dog is [copula] different from Jones' dog. 2. 'different than" - Smith owns [action of some sort] a different dog than Jones does. Or again: 1. WH's writing is different from Suzy's. 2. WH writes a different kind of book than Suzy does. [Yes, the noun comes between, but that's not the deciding factor.] |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 9, 2014 15:16:15 GMT -5
Aha! In different than there is a verb; 'Suzy does'. So that makes different than correct because it's a comparison.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pru Freda on Mar 10, 2014 2:53:14 GMT -5
WH's post is another prime example of the differences between US and British English. In the latter, there is no such construction as different than. It is simply ungrammatical. Most pedants would also tell you that different from is wrong, as well. Different than is creeping in over here, and a lot of people say it, but the correct grammatical way to write WH's line is:
"Smith owns a different dog to Jones."
|
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 10, 2014 2:58:43 GMT -5
HOORAY! Different TO! I knew this was right. Different than makes me wanna scream every time I see it.
|
|
|
|
Post by vrabinec on Mar 10, 2014 8:11:29 GMT -5
WH's post is another prime example of the differences between US and British English. In the latter, there is no such construction as different than. It is simply ungrammatical. Most pedants would also tell you that different from is wrong, as well. Different than is creeping in over here, and a lot of people say it, but the correct grammatical way to write WH's line is: "Smith owns a different dog to Jones." I use unto. Smith owns a different dog unto Jones. That's the poper way to say that. I learned English from Polish kid in a Brooklyn junk yard. I get really pissed on whenever anyone corrects me, because I know I'm write. |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 10, 2014 13:02:16 GMT -5
WH's post is another prime example of the differences between US and British English. In the latter, there is no such construction as different than. It is simply ungrammatical. Most pedants would also tell you that different from is wrong, as well. Different than is creeping in over here, and a lot of people say it, but the correct grammatical way to write WH's line is: "Smith owns a different dog to Jones." I use unto. Smith owns a different dog unto Jones. That's the poper way to say that. I learned English from Polish kid in a Brooklyn junk yard. I get really pissed on whenever anyone corrects me, because I know I'm write. u r always write, Fred. Except when you're rong. |
|
|
|
Post by vrabinec on Mar 10, 2014 13:04:48 GMT -5
I use unto. Smith owns a different dog unto Jones. That's the poper way to say that. I learned English from Polish kid in a Brooklyn junk yard. I get really pissed on whenever anyone corrects me, because I know I'm write. u r always write, Fred. Except when you're rong. lmao I don't know why, but I can't stop giggling over rong. |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 10, 2014 13:07:54 GMT -5
yeah, sounded funny to me too. |
|
|
|
Post by whdean on Mar 11, 2014 10:14:57 GMT -5
ML:
I think you’re right about the “different from” and the copula—it also goes for other comparison words like “same as,” “similar to/with,” identical to/with.” But the copula is also used with “different than”; e.g., “He is a different man than his father.”
Lynda:
The answer depends on who you talk to. The OED accepts “different to,” at least in some cases, and it is British usage. But OED also says that it was considered bad form—“different from” being the preferred form. Most dictionaries also accept “different than” because it’s the only form that can take a clause; e.g., “The weather is different than it was yesterday.”
Something else worth considering: “He looks different to me.” Does that mean he and I don’t like alike? Or does it mean that his appearance has changed, in my view? I suspect that everyone in North America and the U.K. would say the latter. That’s because we’d naturally use “different from/than” (in Canada, the U.K., and U.S. Englishes) to express the former (i.e., “He looks different from/than me.”). In other words, “different to” won’t work in cases where the preposition “to” has two meanings or where it clashes with the clause: “The weather is different to it was yesterday.” (You’d have to say, “…different to the way it was yesterday” which only sounds less bad).
|
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 11, 2014 12:38:52 GMT -5
I'd say 'the weather is different to what it was yesterday'.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 11, 2014 12:44:41 GMT -5
I'd say 'the weather is different to what it was yesterday'. I'd say "different from yesterday's." |
|
