Different家族与介词的搭配用法
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◎文/张满胜

有读者来信针对下面这道题提问。
She is quite a different girl ___ she was five years ago.
A. from B. to C. than D. with
问题：张老师，这道题为什么选C呢？不应该是be different from这个搭配吗？
这个问题涉及形容词different及其副词differently、动词differ和名词difference (笔者称之为“different家族”)与介词的搭配用法。一般来说，可以与different家族成员搭配的介词包括in、from、than、to和between。为了表述方便，下文笔者就以different作为代表，来概括描述它们与各个介词的搭配用法。
Different家族与介词搭配关系总览
我们都知道，different的基本意思是“不同的”，这就含有做比较的意味。说到比较，无外乎涉及两个要素：一个是比较对象，通俗地说就是“谁和谁比”，下文以X和Y来标记；一个是比较标准，通俗地说就是“比什么”，比较哪个(或哪些)方面，下文以Z来标记。
有了这两个概念之后，我们就可以把different后面的介词分为两类：in后面接比较标准，其他介词后面接比较对象，如下表所示。

表格中所列的比较句型都是最基本、最简单的。当然，在实际使用过程中，会出现各种句子结构，但是这些介词的逻辑用法不变。下面笔者就来分别举例说明。
Different in
在作比较的时候，用in接比较标准，基本句型为：“X and Y are different in Z.”请看例句。
1. a. “Flower” and “flour” are different in meaning.
这里的比较对象是flower (花)和flour (面粉)这两个单词，比较标准是meaning (含义)。在实际造句中，可以很灵活地构造各种句子结构，请看下面这几个句子。
b. “Flower” has the same pronunciation as “flour.” But they are different in meaning.
我们可以采用动词differ替换different，具体如下。c. “Flower” and “flour” differ in meaning.我们也可以采用名词difference来表达类似的含义，比如下面这个例句。
2. There are some subtle differences in meaning.
由此可知，不论选择哪种句子结构，我们都是采用in来引出比较标准。
Different from
除了in之外，下面其他介词都是引出比较对象的，基本句型是：“X is different from/than/to Y.”在这三个介词搭配中，different from是最常见的，请看下面的例句。
3. a. “Flower” is different from “flour” in meaning.
b. “Flower” differs from “flour” in meaning.
请注意，由于from是介词，因此different from后面一般是接名词、名词短语或其他名词性成分。若接其他结构(比如介词短语、句子)，此时就会用different than，下文将会详述。
Different than
关于different than有很多的争议。有的权威专家认为它是正确的，也有的权威专家认为它是错误的。在此，笔者不想过多纠结这些争议，而只是想告诉大家different than在什么情况下比较常用。下面来分类讨论。
第一类：different than +名词(非省略句)
我们可以直接用than来替换例1的a句中的from，写成下面的句子。
4. “Flower” is different than “flour” in meaning.
但这种句子被很多人认为不规范，大家最好还是用from。不过，类似这样的用法确实时常出现。请看下面这个句子中的定语从句。
5. a. I get along well with others, even people who are different than me.
这里把定语从句who are different than me改为简单句，就相当于说：“They are different than me.”这里的they和me是两个比较对象，笔者建议此处最好还是用from。
第二类：different than +名词(是省略句)
值得注意的是，有时than后面虽然接了名词或代词，但其实是一个省略句，than的这种用法更为大家所接受。请看下面这段话。
6. Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people who do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.
这段话中的定语从句who do things differently than you若改为简单句，可以说成：“They do things differently than you.”句中的you后面省去了do，是一个省略句，完整的表达应该是：“They do things differently than you do.”
这里的They do things differently than you比上面的They are different than me的可接受程度要大很多。实际上，different(ly) than后面接句子是非常多见的，请看下文详述。
第三类：different than +句子
请大家看来自《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)的一句话。
7. After reading this book, even loyal fans of Bruce Springsteen will think of him differently than they did before.
我们看到，than they did before是一个从句，与differently呼应，than前面并没有比较级出现。此时一般不会把than改成from，说成“… differently from they did before”，这是因为from是介词，其后面一般接名词或名词短语，不接句子。而than可以作为连词，引导一个句子。
简言之，different from后面接名词，different than后面接句子。据此，我们回头看本文开头提问的这个句子。
8. a. She is quite a different girl than she was five years ago.
因为she was five years ago是一个句子，所以填入than正确，此处不能用from。如果要改成from，我们需要将from后面的句子改成名词从句，具体如下。
b. She is quite a different girl from how she was five years ago.
再列举一组句子，供读者体会different than和different from的句式差异。
9. a. The campus is different than it was 20 years ago.
b. The campus is different from how it was 20 years ago.
第四类：different than +状语从句(是省略句)
有时，在than的后面会出现一个状语从句(比如when或if引导)。
10. a. Related research has found that monkeys, cats and dogs respond to music that is designed to suit their vocal frequencies and heart rate (two factors that are thought to make music enjoyable), behaving differently than when no music is played.
我们看到，例句中的differently than后面出现了时间状语从句when no music is played，其实这也是一个省略句，完整的句子形式为：
b. … behaving differently than they (=these animals) do when no music is played.
第五类：different than +介词短语(是省略句)
在than后面接介词短语是非常多见的。我们先看来自《芝加哥论坛报》(Chicago Tribune)里的一段话。
11. Happiness has gone up for this group, despite employment percentages having fallen, and the percentage living with parents going up. And that’s different than for any other group.
这里的第二句话使用了different than，其后接的是介词短语for any other group。而第一句话出现了句子Happiness has gone up for this group，由此可知，第二句话的than前面其实是省略了比较对象for this group。该句子加入for this group后，可以写成：
b. That’s different for this group than for any other group.
其实than后面是省略句，省去了it is，完整的句子结构应为：
c. That’s different for this group than it is for any other group.
再比如下面这句话。
12. a. It is no different for men than for women.
这个句子的比较对象是for men和for women。它实际上是一个省略句，完整的句子形式应为：
b. It is no different for men than it is for women.
若要避免用than，改为from，我们可以说成：
c. It is no different for men from the way it is for women.
Different to
下面我们来说说different to，这个搭配是different from的替代形式，使用相当广泛(尤其是在英国英语中)。比如，对于上面例1的a句，我们可以改写为下面的句子。
13.	“Flower” is different to “flour” in meaning.
下面是摘自美国高考SAT考试阅读中的句子。
14. a. The resources that are valuable in orbit and beyond may be very different to those we prize on Earth.
这里是在比较宇宙太空和地球上的“珍稀资源”(valuable resources)，我们可以将这个句子改写成：
b. The resources that will be highly valued in space may be different from those that are valuable on Earth.
对于different from/than/to这三者，different from毫无疑问是最常见的，不论是在英国英语还是在美国英语中，而different than在美国英语中更常见，different to在英国英语中更常见。
Different between
对于different from/than/to，两个比较对象一般是分别放在它们前后，但对于different between，两个比较对象都是放在between后面。下面举例说明。
15.	Prepositions and articles are always tough to learn. But to complicate things, some are different between various Englishes.
这个句子是对各国不同的英语两两进行比较。更常见的用法是名词difference(s)与between搭配，后面接两个比较对象，此用法常见于there be句型，比如there is some difference(s) between X and Y。请看下面这个例句。
16.	Is there any difference between the expressions different from, different than, and different to? Is one of the three “more correct” than the others?
请注意，这里虽然有三个比较对象different from、different than和different to，但是由于是分别进行两两比较，所以实际上还是两个比较对象，故我们一般不说difference among。
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