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Here are two variations of the same sentence:

  • He's not the same as he was yesterday.
  • He's not the same he was yesterday.

Both can be encountered in colloquial speech, but I would like to know if there are any noteworthy differences in usage between the US, the UK, and Australia. Does either one sound more natural or correct, for lack of a better word, in any particular dialect?

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2 Answers

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I don't think I have ever heard the second version in the US before. If I read it, I would assume it was a typo.

(Edit: I am not trying to assert it must be wrong everywhere; it just isn't done in the US.)

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It isn't done in New Zealand, either, and I would also assume it to be a typo. – Vincent McNabb Aug 23 '10 at 2:03
Is there anyone from the UK who can chime in? – Kosmonaut Aug 23 '10 at 3:13
Just for giggles, I did a Google books search and found this quote by Arbuthnot (cited in a dictionary and an encyclopaedia, no less): "He would tell his instructor, that all men were not singular; that individuality could hardly be predicated of any man; for it was commonly said that a man is not the same he was, and that mad men are beside themselves." Emphasis mine. – RegDwighт♦ Aug 23 '10 at 10:58
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"I don't think I have never heard the second version in the US before". Do you mean that you think that you've heard it already? It was just a typo, right? – b.roth Aug 23 '10 at 13:35
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I don't recognise the second (UK) – Colin Fine Oct 6 '10 at 12:06
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Speaking as an Englishman: the first sounds much more natural. The second sounds (purely subjectively to me) like an Americanism, though it's interesting to see from Kosmonaut's comment that the US also prefer the first :)

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Sounds like the phenomenon whereby people in Britain assume that any new habit they don't like must be American ... – Colin Fine Oct 6 '10 at 12:06
Yes, it seems like that may be the explanation. Hey, it's usually correct ;) – AlexC Oct 31 '10 at 0:42

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