下面是某大学的一道英语试题： The language is certainly not a different language ____ that of everyday life. A. from B. than C. with D. in 标准答案规定选 A, 但选 B 不是同样正确吗?
有些规定语法学家,如 Berry 等曾经指出,使用 different than 是错误的,只能使用 different from。但是语言史告诉我们:语言的使用和发展常常突破语言学家们的规定。different than 就是一个实例。现在 different than 不仅在美国,而且在英国也是用得很普遍的:
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Mary is different from/than Jane. (LDCE) 玛丽与简不同。
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The world itself looks different to Christians than to Mohammedans. 基督教徒和伊斯兰教徒对世界本身的看法是不同的。
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Their house is different than ours. (Leech, A Communicative Grammar of English, p. 22) 他们的房子与我们的不同。
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They fell into a different way of speaking than they had ever before done. 他们讲话的方式不同于过去。
A. S. Hornby 说, Present fashions in dress favour different varieties of colours than ever before. 比 Present fashions in dress favour varieties of colours different from those favoured before. 更好。
R. Quirk 等人也说过, 在下列句子里, different than 没有恰当的替换形式:
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She's quite a different girl than she was five years ago. 她这个女孩与五年前完全不同。
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Schools are different than they used to be. 目前的学校与过去不同了。
《韦氏词典》(电子版)认为,different 与 than 搭配在美国英语中至少已有 300 年的历史,在口头美国英语和书面美国英语中都是规范的。该书进一步解释说,现在 from 较常用于引出短语,但是也可以使用 than:New York speech is different from (or than) that of Chicago. (纽约话与芝加哥话不同。)than 通常用于引出分句:The stream followed a different course than the map showed. (这条小溪的走向与地图标示的不一样)。