Understanding Adjective Variations: Different and Differing

The English language received many words for the same thing from various countries, but each one developed a unique meaning over time. 

In addition, a lot of commonly used English words change in meaning over time. The subtle differences in the words are frequently the only thing making them different.

Because of this, most teachers advise their pupils against randomly choosing words from a Thesaurus to use in their writing. Unless, of course, they are 100% certain of the various meanings attached to synonyms.

A word will be called a Synonym because the meanings are similar. If they meant the same thing, it would be called an acronym! Anyway, it seemed to help the poster to understand what I meant.

The distinction between different and differing is one of the most prevalent examples of the numerous words in the English language that are used to describe a single concept.

But let’s start with defining an Adjective.

Adjective

An adjective is a word that provides additional details about a noun. It “modifies” or “describes” a noun.

They help you be more specific and interesting in your writing and speaking. Descriptive adjectives include the words small, blue, and sharp. 

Adjectives are typically placed before the noun or pronoun they modify because they are used to identify or quantify particular people and remarkable things. Multiple adjectives can be found in some sentences.

Frequently, an adjective comes before a noun:

• a dark sky
• a green car
• an interesting story

Additionally, an adjective can appear after a verb.

• My car is green.
• The sky became dark.
• His story seemed interesting.

Types of Adjectives

The adjective may be construed with one of the prepositions (from), (to), or (then), or with the subordinating conjunction, depending on dialect, period, and register (then). For example; It’s different from what I anticipated (or from what I had anticipated).

Articles

A, an, and they are the only three articles, all adjectives. A, an, and the are known indefinite articles because they are frequently used to discuss generalized objects and individuals.

Possessive adjectives

As their name implies, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific people, animals, or things, just like the article. This, those, this, and that are demonstrative adjectives.

Coordinate Adjectives

When multiple coordinate adjectives are used to modify the same noun, they are separated by commas or the word and. Bright, sunny days and long nights are two examples of coordinate adjectives. The word and is always placed before the last coordinate adjective in sentences with more than two.

Numbers Adjectives

The majority of the time, numbers are adjectives when they are used in sentences. When a number responds to the question “How many,” you can tell it is an adjective.

Interrogative Adjectives

Which, What, and Whose are the three interrogative adjectives, Interrogative adjectives modify nouns in the same way as all other adjective types. All three of these words are used to ask questions, as you are probably aware.

Indefinite Adjectives

Indefinite adjectives are used to discuss general topics, just like the articles a and an. They may be recognizable to you because they are composed of indefinite pronouns. The nouns with indefinite articles that are most frequently used are many, many, no, several, and few.

Attributive Adjectives

Adjectives with the attributional function discuss particular characteristics, qualities, or features; in other words, they talk about attributes.

Definition Of Different:

Different is an adjective that means “not the same.” It is typically followed by when we compare two or more things.  As an adjective describes the subject differently like, he is different.

We also employ various to, particularly when speaking:

• Adam and his brother are very different.
• The house you just left is very different from this one.

The phrase “different from” is also frequently used in American English. For example, “This tea tastes very different than the one I usually drink.” (or… very dissimilar to the one I typically drink)

Although many speakers of British English believe that saying different than before a clause is incorrect. Compared to before he moved to Australia, his accent has changed. (Or…different now than before he traveled to Australia.)

• 1971, William S. Burroughs: The American traveler arrives. He considers himself a good person, but when he shaves, he is forced to admit that “other people are different from me and I don’t like them.” He feels bad about it for other people.
• Researchers discovered that girls were more impacted by getting into bed at a different time every night than boys, but both performed worse on mental tasks than kids who had a set bedtime.
• Similar studies of rats have used four different intracranial resorbable, slow, sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule, or biodegradable polymer beads.

Differing 

Do you Differ with my viewpoint? Unlike a verb, which depicts a subject’s action. So, Different is just an adjective. While Differing is a verbal noun made up of the conjunction verb +ing.

• 2007: Language’s differing nuances give rise to meanings, truths, and values.
• Robert Bator, Signposts to Children’s Literature Criticism, 1983: I was unaware of the intense philosophical differing, technical and aesthetic line-drawing, and setting up and tearing down that had been occurring among the followers of each. 

Explanation

Without consulting a dictionary, the distinction between the two words, in my opinion, is as follows:

For Example

• He and I think differently about this.
• He holds a different viewpoint from mine, one that is in opposition to mine. We have the opposite way of thinking. What is correct for me is incorrect for him.

Difference Between Different and Differing

Differing is the present participle of to differ, a verb meaning unlike or dissimilar. Different is strictly an adjective. It means different from another person or thing; not the same as.

Different views. Diverse opinions. In this, “Different views” conveys the idea that the viewpoints are well-established and incompatible. Different views also convey that the views are open to debate and further development.

Do “Different” And “Differing” Mean The Same Thing? 

Here are some sentences they were used in:

• “Bill and Mike have different views.”
• “Bill and Mike have differing views.”

In my opinion, different views imply that their views are opposed, disagreeable, or even conflicting, whereas differing views imply that they are not the same.

To put it another way, the first example shows you that they have different opinions about a certain subject. 

In contrast, the second example suggests that the problem is much worse because the two men have opposing opinions. I believe that is the most straightforward way you can come up with to explain the distinction between these two words.

Final Thoughts

• Words that describe or modify other words are called adjectives.
• They help you be more specific and interesting in your writing and speaking.
• The distinction between different and differing is one of the most prevalent examples of the numerous words in the English language that are used to describe a single concept.
• Different is an adjective that means “not the same.”
• It is typically followed by when we compare two or more things. 
• While Differing is a verbal noun made up of the conjunction verb +ing.

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