TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
This one's a tough one to deal with, because it's a matter of "preferred"
rather than "correct."
You can find more than a few references that will support the use of "than"
as technically not
incorrect. My approach to the matter has been to explain that while "than"
is not technically
"wrong" and is quite common, "from" is the "preferred" usage, and that
readers who are or
fancy themselves as academic will instantly brand the user of "than" as an
ignorant rube whether
the impression is accurate or not. So they can use "than," in which case
most readers won't
care and some will think them ignorant, or use "from," in which case nobody
at all will care.
That way those who use "than" won't feel as if I'm correcting them and will
assign the fault for
the whole thing to the anal-retentive academic reader. Since most of the
products and services
I've documented over the years have had a substantial number of academic
users, the response
is usually, "go ahead and change it."
Gene Kim-Eng
At 01:12 PM 3/31/2003 -0500, Muwonge, Margaret wrote:
These days I hear 'different than' everywhere....and I mean everywhere!! I
have diligently crossed out 'than' and replaced it with 'from'. I simply
cannot forget my English teacher's rage at the 'murderers of the English
language' (this was a different country guys).
Besides, as far as I know on this side of the pond, Princeton, NJ, (SAT,
SSAT, GRE, etc.) will NOT let you get away with ' different than'.
With all that said, my diligence has earned me questioning looks from some
corners ....'how dare you'!! What do you mean?...blah...blah...!!
So, I turn to you my esteemed friends, do I or do I not replace the 'word'
? Personally, if somebody sees ---'whatever'--- as different than, who am I
to argue!
Question: Is this mainstream now and OK?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, plus FREE
RoboScreenCapture, WebHelp Merge Module and iMarkupSoftware, for a total
giveaway value of $473! Order here: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Help celebrate TECHWR-L's 10th Anniversary starting this month!
Check out the contests at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/special/contests/
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday TECHWR-L....
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
