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STELLA SKOURA
What's the difference between "variety" and "variation"?
Jan 16, 2019 6:20 PM
Answers · 3
1
Variety (noun) refers to an item which is similar in nature but of different origins for example there's a variety of car to choose from at our car showroom form most of the renowned car makers like Bentley, Mercedes, Volvo, Proton, BMW and many more. A variation (noun) is a small change in something.
January 16, 2019
1
The words each have several different uses:
Variation as a mass noun:
1 A tendency to vary from the norm, e.g. "There is wide variation in the sizes of beans."
..and a a count noun:
Variation
2 A thing which varies from the norm, e.g. "Bach wrote 32 variations on the Goldberg theme".
3 A difference from the norm, e.g. "There are variations in prices over time"
Variety
4 A selection of different things, e.g."There is a wide variety of beans at the supermarket."
5 A type of thing, e.g. "Moong dhall is a variety of bean."
Note that 2 is usually only applied in law (to a contract) or music (to a theme), though "variations on a theme" is sometimes used metaphorically. A commoner alternative is 'variant', e.g. "The A329 and A324 are both variants of the A320 aircraft".
January 16, 2019
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STELLA SKOURA
Language Skills
English, Greek
Learning Language
English
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