Wednesday Words: When is it Then?
?? Susan Rooks ?? The Grammar Goddess
Editor/Proofreader: I help nonfiction writers and podcasters (& their guests) look and sound as smart as they are.??Cruciverbalist?? BIZCATALYST 360° Columnist????The Oxford Comma????Dog Rescuer??Spunky Old Broad??
(First published February 2015; updated here)
Surprisingly, I am not the only one on the internet trying to set things straight in terms of American grammar and usage (check out Schelley Cassidy (DocChic), and Sara Rosinsky. And as I have written before, it’s terribly easy to mistake one word for another in English! (Probably true of all languages, right?)
In terms of then and than, how can you remember which is which?
Easy! Link “then” with “when.” They are both about time, and they rhyme.
So if you’re not intending to write about time, you must be making a comparison of some sort and you need to use “than.” And “compare”" has an “a” in it. Maybe that’ll help?
Examples
YES: When will she arrive? Then she will arrive.
YES: My dog is smaller than yours is.
YES: This winter is colder than last year’s.
YES: When spring comes, then winter will end.
NO: I’d rather be hugged, then eaten. (Hugs first, then I’m lunch?)
YES: I’d rather be hugged than eaten. (Yes, I would too.)
One last tip: If you know you constantly goof up on a pair of words (your / you’re, for example), use your computer to help you see what you might be missing. Do a search for one of the words, and read what you’ve written carefully. Is the right word in that sentence? If not, it must be the other one.
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The DocChic! Technical/Creative Writer, Artist, Entrepreneur
5 年Excellent article and thank you so much for the shout out! You just made my entire day! If the Grammar Goddess endorses me, I must be doing something right! WOOHOO! :-)
Certified English Language Teacher
5 年Useful
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5 年Our writing style resources in the past 3 decades said "from" follows the word "different", not than.? Here is an online source explaining:?https://www.grammar.com/different-from-vs-different-than? I believe most of the population gets this wrong.
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5 年Love all the stuff you share Susan Rooks (the Grammar Goddess)!