‘Then‘ and ‘than‘, these two words in English cause a lot of confusion for a lot of people, myself included!  People often misuse them in writing (myself included!) and so I thought I would go over the difference between the two words today and see if I can’t come up with a good way for all of us to remember how to use them correctly.  It is my hope that if you can follow along with this discussion then you will be able to use these two words better than before.

The word ‘than‘ is used for making comparisons. You use the word ‘than’ when talking about a noun in comparison to another noun (i.e. being: more, less, better, faster, slower, etc.)

Here are some examples of how to use the word ‘than’:

• The tomatoes in my garden are bigger than the ones in my neighbor’s garden.
• Beth’s grandmother is sicker than she was last week.
• It turns out my new job pays more than I thought it would.

The word ‘then‘ is a word used to indicate time.  You use the word ‘then’ when talking about the sequence of events or when giving step-by-step instructions.

Here are some examples of how to use the word ‘then’:

• First there were three, then there were two, and then there was only one competitor remaining.
• In order to make this cake first you mix the ingredients together, then you put the batter in the oven to cook it, and then you let it cool.
• I put the clothes in the washer then the dryer.

I hope that all makes sense, it is probably information you have heard before, so how are you going to remember when to use the right word ‘then’ or ‘than’ in writing from now on?  Here is the little trick I have come up with:

than has an ‘a‘ in it, just like the word comparison –> so the two ‘a‘ words go together

and

then has an ‘e‘ in it just like the word time –> so the two ‘e‘ words go together

Okay, now here is a little practice for you.  I hope the trick above helps:

1) I’m a better dancer then/than you!
2) I think science is less interesting then/than math.
3) The teacher said to put down our pencils then/than turn in our tests.
4) Our friends invite us out to eat with them every now and then/than.
5) Learn this grammar rule. Then/than you will be smarter then/than the average ESL learner.

The answers to this exercise are below – don’t peak until you give this a try.

If you or anyone you know is looking for more help to learn English there are a lot of resources like this at www.transparent.com.  Check them out!

1) than, 2) than, 3) then, 4) then, 5) then, than