The construction with than (after other than), is found in Fuller, Addison, Steele, De Foe, Richardson, Goldsmith, Miss Burney, Coleridge, Southey, De Quincey, Carlyle, Thackeray, Newman, Trench, and Dasent, among others

More important: the word “than” is definitely not a preposition. It is a conjunction. To call it a preposition is just incorrect (not a matter of taste, style, etc.)!

Thanks for your post!

I’m not trying to be difficult, but…I hereby take exception to the notion floated here, that the expressions DIFFERENT FROM and DIFFERENT THAN have, seemingly, been on an equal grammatical footing for nearly three hundred years!??!

Wow, where have I been? [Rhetorical question]

This controversy between THAN and FROM (as prepositions) when used with the verb TO DIFFER, or the adjective DIFFERENT, seems to be one which has, is, and perhaps will, ultimately, result in accomodation of bad, or lazy grammar. It’s yet another instance of the Decline of Our Language, the Dumbing-down of primary schooling.

I hear (presumably), otherwise well-educated, well-spoken people, in public, making this mistake. It’s a pretty gross mistake. On one hand, when the uneducated speak in this way, it’s one thing. It’s forgivable, even though one would like to explain, and disabuse them of their error. On the other hand, public figures, whether it’s our President, or a respected news-anchor, should be responsible enough to check themselves and what they utter, before they go public. Or, have we come to expect and accept such colloquial expressions from our role models?

DIFFER takes the preposition FROM (exclusively), for the simple and logical reason that, as the verb TO DIFFER implies, it sets apart by EXCLUSION rather than BY DEGREE of COMPARISON. As in – This is different from that. When something differs, it implies another, FROM WHICH it is distinguished.

The fundamental question: How does something, be it a state of being, a quality, a quantity, an action,…DIFFER FROM another thing? Answer, COMPARITIVELY, by contrast. The contrast is either by degree, or by total exclusion; if one thing is excluded (outside the set which includes another) FROM, it is DIFFERENT. The preposition THAN is used with GREATER or LESS; the preposition FROM is used with DIFFERENT.

That’s how I see it.
The lazy speaker does not want to expend the effort to construct the requisite clause to follow, FROM [THAT WHICH, the other]… etc.

If we tried this little litmus test in most other languages, we’d probably get the same results. It’s beyond the scope of my immediate reply to attempt that. I think I would/could prove my premise, but I’ll let it go for now.

Different THAN is colloquial, which is, strictly speaking, not correct. It may be “Acceptable, accomodated,” but not right; it is lazy usage of grammar.

Your thoughts?
Thank you,
Geoff