Was ist der Unterschied zwischen to vary und to differ ?Du kannst auch einfach Beispielsätze geben.

Antworten

TristanMW

13 Mär 2016

Englisch (US)
Englisch (UK)

There's almost no difference. Both are quite formal so it's the speaker's choice as to which they want to use. The only difference I can think of would be;

"He differs." Vs "He varies."

The first means "He disagrees."/ "He has a different opinion."

And the second "He isn't consistent." / "He's inconsistent habitually."

lukasz

13 Mär 2016

Polnisch

Hmm, is it that "to differ" is used when we treat elements separately, and compare them, whereas "to vary" when we treat them as a, let me say, one unit?
And is the difference analogically the same between "different" and "various"?

shaeleyworrell

13 Mär 2016

Englisch (US)

"To vary" means it could be the same or different, it other words it "depends", but "to differ" means that it is not the same.

TristanMW

13 Mär 2016

Englisch (US)
Englisch (UK)

@lukasz: I think the difference between the adjectives "different" and "various" gives some insight into the subtle nuisances between their verb counterparts. However, the differences between their adjective forms are far more identifiable than between their verb equivalents. I wish I could make it more clear but even I struggle with understanding the difference.

lukasz

14 Mär 2016

Polnisch

Speaking of adjectives, I have an impression that most people (native speakers too) misuse the word "different".

For instance, if someone has, let's say, three pens, and each of these pens has different color, I guess that most people would say that their pens have different colors, whereas it seems to me that correctly it is to say that their pens have various colors. Because, similarly to what you've said, the colors vary here, they do not differ.

What do you think of it? Is my suspicion reasonable or it's just a wrong impression?