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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

"as opposed to" or "as apposed to"

Which is correct? "I prefer coffee as opposed to tea" or "I prefer coffee as apposed to tea"

It seems that if you apply the definition of "opposed" that the two items are in opposition to one another the first would work but it also seems correct to use "apposed" if you are doing a comparison.
  

Top answer

" I fear your sentence stretches the definition. How about, I was surprised by the apposition of coffee and tea in front of him.

— Avangi

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17 Answers

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"I prefer coffee as opposed to tea" or "I prefer coffee as apposed to tea"

I usually hear "in apposition to." I fear your sentence stretches the definition.
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Anonymous "I prefer coffee as opposed to tea" or "I prefer coffee as apposed to tea"
This sounds weird to my ears. Prehaps: Q: Would you like some hot tea ? A: "I'd prefer coffee than/ over tea, if you don't mind ".

But: John will be back to work Wednesday from v
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I see no problem with "I prefer coffee as opposed to tea."

A: Would you care for some coffee?
B: I prefer coffee over/as opposed to tea, but frankly, I could go for a martini.

Granted, it's a bit wordy, and perhaps impolite.
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AvangiI see no problem with "I prefer coffee as opposed to tea."

A: Would you care for some coffee?
B: I prefer coffee over/as opposed to tea, but frankly, I could go for a martini.
Hahaha Avangi, I think you already have one too many Mart
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Hi Anon

As you have noticed from the previous posts, the phrase 'as apposed to' simply is not idiomatic. You need only check COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) to find that out. There are no examples whatsoever for any usage of 'as apposed to', but there are approximately 6500 examples for 'as opposed to'.

Dimsum, this also sounds odd:

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YankeeDimsum, this also sounds odd:
"I'd prefer coffee than tea, if you don't mind ".
Thanks Amy for pointing that out. I should have a separate example with "than" instead of mixing it with "over" in the same context.
YankeeI agree with Avangi that "I prefer coffee as opposed to tea" is OK. It just isn't the most common way t
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I cheerfully yield. Emotion: happy
I was never renowned as a champion of the most common.
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Avangichampion of the most common
Ugh. Who would want that title anyway??
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I think he's playing on the phrase "champion of the common man", also known as "champion of the people".
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Hi guys.

I see that nobody mentioned

I prefer coffee to tea.

I'm wondering whether this usage is more BrE as I suspect "over" would be more frequent in the US.
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