Manner vs Method
Manner and Method are two words that are often confused due to their similarity in meanings. As a matter of fact they are two different words with different meanings. Manner is a way a thing is done or the way a thing happens as in the sentence ‘He always sings in this manner.’
Manner refers to social behavior as in the sentence ‘It is bad manners to speak loudly.’ Sometimes the word ‘manner’ suggests a kind of polite or well-bred behavior that should be innate in man. Observe the sentence ‘That fellow has no manners’. In this sentence you can find that the word ‘manners’ refer to the polite behavior which a man is expected to have by nature.
Sometimes the word manner is suggestive of a person’s outward bearing or the way of speaking as in the sentence ‘He has an imperious manner’. A poet’s style of writing is sometimes called as manner as in the phrase ‘in the manner of Tennyson’.
The word ‘method’ is used in the sense of a special form of procedure especially in any branch of mental activity. It refers to orderliness and regular habits. Sometimes the word ‘method’ is expressive of the orderly arrangement of ideas. A method is a scheme of classification.
The word ‘method’ has got a special significance in the field of theater. It refers to the technique of acting based on the actor’s thorough emotional identification with the character. The word ‘method’ is derived from the Latin ‘methodus’ which means ‘pursuit of knowledge’. On the other hand the word ‘manner’ is derived from the Latin ‘manuarius’ which means ‘of the hand’.
The word ‘method’ can have the nearest equivalent in the word ‘procedure’. On the other hand the word ‘manner’ can have the nearest equivalent in the word ‘way’.
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