Choose the correct option to replace the underlined part of the sentence:
Kabir soon found that the food in the hostel mess was very different than the food his mother cooked at home.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → different from
“Different” is followed by “from”:
- In standard school grammar, the adjective “different” is followed by “from”.
- The given sentence says “different than”. This is wrong: “than” follows comparing words like “better” or “tastier”, and “different” is not one of them.
- Complete sentence: Kabir soon found that the food in the hostel mess was very different from the food his mother cooked at home.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: different with — Incorrect. “With” shows being together, not a difference. After “different”, the word needed is “from”.
Option 2: differ from — Incorrect. “Differ” is a verb. After “was very”, the sentence needs an adjective. Example: My views often differ from my father’s.
Option 4: differently from — Incorrect. “Differently” is an adverb. After “was”, we need an adjective that describes the food. Example: Meena solved the sum differently from the rest of the class.