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Updated on
18 Jun 2018
- Polish
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Russian
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English (UK)
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Question about English (UK)
What is the difference between to differ and to vary ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between to differ and to vary ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
Generally I know rules of using these two verbs in various contexts but please indicate any important differences between them. Is it possible to use them interchangeably in most cases?
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20 Jun 2018
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- English (UK)
1) Vary is usually used when comparing more than two items together e.g.
'Regional accents vary in the UK' this suggests there are a multitude of accents in the UK.
2) Differ is usually used when comparing two items to each other e.g.
'The currency used in Poland differs to the UK'
3) I agree with tiramisu that 'vary' suggests a greater inconsistency than 'differ'. If I said 'My opinion varies', this suggests that my opinion sometimes changes. If I said my 'My opinion differs' this would suggest that my opinion is simply different, there is no implication that this is likely to change.
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- English (US)
For the most part they are interchangeable but vary gives the the feeling that something is inconsistent (so it can be a negative word) where as differ is a word with no underlying implications it just means different
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- English (UK)
1) Vary is usually used when comparing more than two items together e.g.
'Regional accents vary in the UK' this suggests there are a multitude of accents in the UK.
2) Differ is usually used when comparing two items to each other e.g.
'The currency used in Poland differs to the UK'
3) I agree with tiramisu that 'vary' suggests a greater inconsistency than 'differ'. If I said 'My opinion varies', this suggests that my opinion sometimes changes. If I said my 'My opinion differs' this would suggest that my opinion is simply different, there is no implication that this is likely to change.
Was this answer helpful?
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