Some language rules are valuable; others are piffling
But how to tell them apart?
“Shall i compare thee to a summer’s day?” So begins one of the most famous poems in all of English literature. It is also one of the most frequently cited in usage books. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet XVIII” is offered as support for the notion that “compare to” means to express a likeness, whereas “compare with” is used for contrasts.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Distinctions with a difference”
From the July 16th 2022 edition
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