Sometimes you have to get back to basics. All writers are guilty of making mistakes at some point, and they kick themselves for months after an astute reader notices that they added one too many o's to their “to.” Once that's in print, you can't take it back.
So today, I'd like to draw attention to one common mistake so that you will hopefully never have to take it back.
Then Vs. Than: A Sneaky, Common Error
See if you can spot the mistake:
“Mark, you know better then to startle me after my self-defense class,” Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer.
I've seen this fairly common error around the blogosphere much more often than I'd like:
The then-vs.-than debacle.
It's an easy mistake to miss, too, especially when you're on a roll and the words are shooting out of your brain, down your arm, through your fingers, and onto the keypad.
You can't stop when it happens; you might lose the momentum. But the fact remains that your spell-check won't catch it.
So when should you use then vs. than?
Let's break this down into the most basic rules we can.
When Do You Use “Than?”
Use “than” in comparisons. For example, it's pretty easy to identify this as a comparison:
Casey was more interesting than his brother Luke, and not just because he was a professional ultramarathoner.
However, things get tricky when you're not directly comparing things. For example, it becomes a little more challenging in situations like this:
Rachel was a little more awkward than he remembered, although Jason mentally acknowledged that his whiskey sour on Friday had been a little heavier on the whiskey than usual.
In this example, even though we're not comparing concrete things (like Casey and Luke in the first example), a comparison still occurs. Jason compares Rachel's current level of awkwardness to the level he remembered from their last meeting. He also compares the alcohol content of Friday's whiskey sour to the alcohol content that is usually present in his oh-so-manly drink.
So When Does “Then” Come Into Play?
You only ever use “then” when timing is involved. See below:
Laura covered her face, then thrust her arm out of the covers, slapping the alarm clock on the floor in the early morning darkness.
Clearly, a sequence of events is happening here. Laura slaps her alarm clock after covering her face, so “then” is the appropriate word to use.
If You Remember This Rule, Then You'll Save Yourself Grief
Learn the difference between than and then. Then you won't have sneaky errors hiding under your spell-check's radar and worming their way into your otherwise perfectly polished manuscript.
See what I did there?
How do you remember when to use then vs. than? Let us know in the comments.
PRACTICE
Practice makes perfect, so let's describe what happened when Mark made the mistake of surprising Amy after her self-defense class. Take fifteen minutes to tell the story, and remember to use “than” and “then.”
And speaking of mistakes, let's make sure we don't repeat that mistake from the first example, shall we?
When you're finished, share your practice in the comments. And don't forget to leave feedback for your fellow writers!
Great post today! This debacle drives me crazy, and you’re right — the blogosphere seems to draw the error like a magnet. Appreciate your desire to make better writers of us all.
Thanks Sherrey. We appreciate your appreciation 😉
Great post today! This debacle drives me crazy, and you’re right — the blogosphere seems to draw the error like a magnet. Appreciate your desire to make better writers of us all.
Thanks Sherrey. We appreciate your appreciation 😉
Awesome! Have you done one on While vs Although? This one gets me often!
Good one. I’ll add it to the list. Thank you.
Awesome! Have you done one on While vs Although? This one gets me often!
Good one. I’ll add it to the list. Thank you.
“Mark, you know better than to startle me after my self-defense class,” Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer.
Mark said nothing, and pressed the frozen peas to his swollen and bruised face.
Amy said she was startled. It seemed to Mark that she had been startled more than he could be accounted for. Amy had, in his opinion, overreacted.
It wasn’t like the first punch was necessary. And the ones that came after did not even deserve to be mentioned.
In a matter of seconds, he was sprawled on the street, a mess.
And what really irked him was how long Amy took to apologise.
Seriously. He could have counted a full five seconds of her silence.
And that wasn’t when Amy was just standing there, laughing her head off at his poor, pathetic figure.
“Was I really that creepy?” he wanted to ask. It wasn’t like sneaking up on his friend when she wasn’t expecting was bad, wasn’t it?
Amy had explained that her self-defense class was geared towards women. “A lot of it is really practical – like how to kick a rapist’s ass when he’s behind you, put him in a headlock, aim for the Five Most Fragile Parts of a Man’s Body.”
Mark shuddered. “I don’t want to hear about that,” he muttered. “I’m not a rapist.”
“I know you’re not a rapist; I was just being careful,” said Amy.
“Glad to see you taking steps to ensure your own safety.”
Faithfully yours, is there anything to say?
Dear letters for warning not towards the flowers for all of your gorgeous bouquets, joins of paperless-waiting?
Steps throughout the part of saying anything could be part of theme in just minutes.
Therefore, the times can be nothingness.
Rapid ratio of train is faster than flow of water stream that can’t verse for some case of life running further-apart from rocky some biking hopping up-down.
Good days-it could say, the martial powerlessness is not the dice tossed around.
Really special for anyone, the life could be passing in-out for no man in hat bowing the hands bearing from nodding head to gentle man from Venus.
That’s right.
Universe is the way for all of humankind for everything for sometimes towards destination of willing towards sightseen- to have been- into rhymes of beautiful sun delighted for compassionate no tears.
“Mark, you know better than to startle me after my self-defense class,”
Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer.
He cast his eye down, his body stiff. He clenched his fist and said. “Well, yeah, you know.”
She put down the bag of peas on the table and gave him an eye-over. She crossed her arms over herself and said,”I know what?”
HIs hands played with the hem of his jacket. His breathing went shallow, then deep. Then shallow again.
Finally, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Amy,” he said. “But I just gotta tell you something.”
Amy raised her left eyebrow. Mark as young as he was looked younger than he was before. He was biting his lips and he was kinda of blushing and-
“Oh no,” she said putting her hands over her eyes. “Please don’t do this. You can’t be doing this.”
“What?” Mark said, eyes wide. She peaked a little between her fingers and she closed again. He opened his mouth but it hung open.
“Please, Mark,” she said. “Your sister, and ah- your mother.”
He narrowed his eyes and grabbed her hands. It was colder than his, then he pried it open to see her face. “Sis, Mom, what do they have to do with this?”
Her lips flattened as she scanned his face. He looked so young, he barely has a stubble. “You family will kill me,” she said.
“Why?” he said.
“We can’t have this,” she said. She let go of his hands. It was warmer than hers, the she said. “‘relationship'”
“What the-” he said. “What ‘relationship’? What the hell are you talking about Amy?”
He backed away and scanned the area of her face.
“Eh,” she said. She raised both of her eyebrows then she dropped them. “Aren’t you, you know, confessing?” she said as she blushed.
Flush crept up his neck. His mouth got dry. “What?” he said. “Confess?”
She nodded her head, her face red as a tomato.
“Did I commit a crime?” he said. “I just wanted to warn you about Lily’s result at the vet. Am I going to jail?”
“But, but,” she said then she reached for him and grabbed him by the collar. “What happened to Lily?”
He held her arms softly and looked into her eyes. “Lily’s dying. She has dog diabetes.”
Her hands promptly let go. “Oh.”
I guess I am weird. When dumping to media, yes I will include than and then, in proper usage, but in the re-write, I remove them. I have found these to be two words that are useless and not needed.
This is one I never had an issue with.
Me, too. I never had trouble with these words.
WELCOME HOME, LOVE
“Mark, you know better than to startle me after my self-defense class,” Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer. Then she pressed it on Mark’s jaw where a swelling had already started to form.
“I just wanted to surprise you”, Mark pointed out while wincing in pain, “How can I imagine I will receive a punch instead of a hug!”.
“And how can I imagine you will come home four days early from another side of the globe! You didn’t give me any hint, Mark,” said Amy in her support.
“Well, the people of the other company appeared to be less difficult than we previously imagined them to be. So, the deal was done faster than estimated and I desperately wanted to be with you, my sweet girlfriend, on Christmas,” Mark almost pouted “now I have a blackened eye and probably a dislocated jaw”.
Amy could not suppress the giggle, which resulted in a glare from Mark, “Oh Mark, you look really adorable when you pout.”
“I don’t pout.”
“Yes you do.”
Suddenly a white fur ball jumped on Mark’s lap and started to lick him enthusiastically.
Mark managed to tell while cuddling their pet “At least someone is happy to see me home early.”
It took a few minutes for Amy to separate the determined dog from its master.Then she whispered to Mark’s ears, “Let me welcome you in a proper way, love.”
A huge grin appeared on Mark’s face as the couple headed towards their bedroom.
Bravo!! I love this!
Thank you 🙂
Though not a prescriptivist by nature, there is a usage of “than” that seriously annoys me: “different than.” Editing writers, I *always* replace “than” w/ “from.” As you say, than is used in comparisons, & to say “this is different than that” seems like a weak or one-sided comparison. (Unless one is comparing degrees of differentness.) Obviously, from & than can hardly be substituted for one another…that wouldn’t work, for instance, in any of your examples above. So, when I say I’m not a prescriptivist, I mean I don’t bust the “different than” usage unless someone is paying me to make such distinctions…but it annoys me nonetheless…even in speech. (I’m keeping an eye out for an opportunity to use it in the dialog of some annoying character in my own writing, heh, heh.)
I always tell my students to remember thAn has an a like in compAre, and thEn has an e like in nExt.
Unfortunately, many people mix up the spellings of words that are pronounced the same. In fact, even in one of the submissions here, someone confused peaked (peak, v. , to.project in a peak; to attain a peak of activity, development, popularity, etc.) and peeked (snuck a look at). In other places I’ve seen peeked/peaked used instead of piqued. My suggestion: if you want to write, make the dictionary your best friend. Look up words that have more than one possible spelling. If you use an uncommon word, once again, look it up to make sure that you’re using it correctly ( I once read about someone clamoring–rather than clambering–into a truck.) Note your own weak points, and check them. There are certain words I use that I ALWAYS check in the dictionary just to make sure… Better safe than sorry.
Good job, Mirel! I have a whole list of “Authors’ Errors That Make Me Crazy.” Access/excess/assess; artesian/artisan; a while/awhile; Calvary/cavalry; defuse/diffuse; discreet/discrete; elicit/illicit; marital/martial; peak/peek/pique; palate/palette/pallet/palette; sight/site and a whole bunch of others. And my biggest pet peeve: hone in instead of home in. I remember reading that a horse buckled rather than bucked! Could have been worse, I suppose–it could have bucketed!
As in the horse bucketed towards its water bucket? That would have been cute! But yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Is it because people read less? Teachers pay less attention to spelling? People don’t care anymore? Maybe, but people who want to write, should read more, pay attention to spelling and care!
“Mark, you know better than to startle me after my self-defense class,” Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer.
“Uh, now I do.” He winced as he held the bag to his budding jaw.
“I thought you had to work all night at the hospital. Why are you home now?” Her tone was more of a punch than the physical one he had received. He just wanted to get away from her.
Amy stepped up to block the doorway and asked him in a sweet, conniving voice,”Well, then, let’s go out for a drink. Now.”
“Ok, but let me into our bedroom so I can get out of these scrubs.”
“Oh, I love you in your scrubs. They remind me of how successful you are. Don’t change. Let’s go.”
“You may love me in them, but they smell worse than that homeless man they brought to the ER tonight.”
Mark pushed past her to find his best friend Charlie standing inside the bedroom door.
I face this problem as a typo more THAN a grammar mistake
I am always correct on than and then.
Easiest way to remember which is which is this: WHEN do you use THEN? The key is that both words end in EN. If it involves time–a “when”–you use then.
He is taller than his brother.
He drink the coke then the plain water.
I think I have always known this rule, however I can see how it could turn into a mistake if one hits a key by error.
As a french author, I don’t have this problem but even when I’m writing in english, I can make the difference between “then” and “than” ! I have so many things to learn to improve my english. Don’t think I’ll be able to translate my own novel in english ! Anyone interested (American writer with good french level and passion for french culture requiered !!!) Thanks Liz 🙂
“Mark, you know better than to startle me after my self-defense class,” Amy said as she pulled the bag of peas out of the freezer.
“Did I? No. Do I? What a way to learn.” Mark was holding his ribs and favouring his left. “If I ever do that again, then you know I’ve got a death wish. All of those euthanasia supporters are barking up the wrong tree. May not be the most painless way to go, but speaking to you the wrong way after self-defense, that’s got to be quicker than whatever drugs they’ve got on the market.”
“Don’t exaggerate.” Amy turned to rinse the bag. “Do you want me to wrap this in a towel? Then I’ll get one from the bathroom.”
“No need. Give it to me neat.” He took the frozen peas from her. He flinched as he pressed them to his side – they were much colder than he remembered.
That he even had prior wasn’t something to be proud of.