Rant: Then vs. Than; I'm fed up!!!

[tonioseven]

There is a difference between the 2 words THEN and THAN. They are NOT interchangeable!! I'm sick of seeing them used carelessly!! Below I have provided an aid in helping with their use. I have placed this post here so hopefully a wider variety of people will see it as opposed to it being placed in the stress release forum. Thanks for looking.

Main Entry: [1]then
Pronunciation: 'then
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English than, then then, than, from Old English thonne, thænne; akin to Old High German denne then, than, Old English thæt that
Date: before 12th century
1 : at that time
2 a : soon after that : next in order of time <walked to the door, then turned> b : following next after in order of position, narration, or enumeration : being next in a series <first came the clowns, then came the elephants> c : in addition : BESIDES <then there is the interest to be paid>
3 a (1) : in that case <take it, then, if you want it so much> (2) : — used after but to qualify or offset a preceding statement <she lost the race, but then she never really expected to win> b : according to that : as may be inferred <your mind is made up, then> c : as it appears : by way of summing up <the cause of the accident, then, is established> d : as a necessary consequence <if the angles are equal, then the complements are equal>
- and then some : with much more in addition <would require all his strength and then some>

Main Entry: [2]than
Function: preposition
Date: 1560
: in comparison with <you are older than me>
usage After about 200 years of innocent if occasional use, the preposition than was called into question by 18th century grammarians. Some 200 years of elaborate and sometimes tortuous reasoning have led to these present-day inconsistent conclusions: than whom is standard but clumsy <Beelzebub… than whom, Satan except, none higher sat —John Milton> <T. S. Eliot, than whom nobody could have been more insularly English —Anthony Burgess>; than me may be acceptable in speech <a man no mightier than thyself or me —Shakespeare> <why should a man be better than me because he's richer than me —William Faulkner, in a talk to students>; than followed by a third-person objective pronoun (her, him, them) is usually frowned upon. Surveyed opinion tends to agree with these conclusions. Our evidence shows that the conjunction is more common than the preposition, that than whom is chiefly limited to writing, and that me is more common after the preposition than the third-person objective pronouns. You have the same choice Shakespeare had: you can use than either as a conjunction or as a preposition.
Main Entry: [1]than
Pronunciation: th&n, 'than
Function: conjunction
Etymology: Middle English than, then then, than —more at THEN
Date: before 12th century
1 a : — used as a function word to indicate the second member or the member taken as the point of departure in a comparison expressive of inequality; used with comparative adjectives and comparative adverbs <older than I am> <easier said than done> b : — used as a function word to indicate difference of kind, manner, or identity; used especially with some adjectives and adverbs that express diversity <anywhere else than at home>
2 : rather than — usually used only after prefer, preferable, and preferably
3 : other than
4 : WHEN — used especially after scarcely and hardly

[Toksin]

hahahahaha OLOLZ!! thats great tonoin ltes peoepplz who wcant spell terlaly see how 2ntype properly cvuz it gets a bit annoying sometimes eh ROFL seeing how badly sum pplz types ehhehehe







I feel so dirty.

[Integra06]

Originally Posted by Toksin

I feel so dirty.

You should feel very dirty after degrading yourself like that.

[tonioseven]

shaem onn ue. dayv!!

[slave]

My mum says chocolate isn't good for dogs.

[eversio11]

if everyone didn't interchange the two, than we'd have a perfect world. I know I'd rather have perfect grammar then barely ledgible grammar.

[tonioseven]

^he's got jokes!!

[Toksin]

My pet hate is swapping bought and brought around and not using any punctuation.

[freakray]

They want thunderstorms here later tonight.....

[kittedb18bt]

honestly i have called out several people on here on that specific topic. one was even a moderator.

thanks for making this post! (atleast i am not the only one disgusted...)

[FireBball972]

the one that gets on my nerves is when people use apostrophies in "its" all the time.

like, people will say "in it's car"!!!!!!!!

goddamn that pisses me off. sorry people, but "it's" is a contraction for IT IS!!!






























damn, i gotta calm down, whew

[KustmAce]

^Nit-picky...

[FireBball972]

sorry, can't help it

[Andydg]

You know what pisses me off is when people use "your" instead of "you're". One is a contraction of "you are" and the other is refering to a person.

[slave]

At least ONE of the people here is undertaking a pot and kettle session.