A Little Help No. 1

Author Help

Welcome to the scenic route! If you’ve been here before, you’ll notice today’s format is a little different than usual. And that’s because…

I want to offer a bit of help for those who are always left wondering. English vocabulary is such a tricky thing! So I’ve been keeping a list of common misused words, most of which are a simple spelling issue. There are, however, a few which are simply not used correctly because an author didn’t get the right definition. It happens to all of us. So I’d like to offer some clarity, if I may.

Then vs. Than

Today’s word mixup focus is ‘then’ vs. ‘than.’ It’s a simple question, really. When you understand that the word ‘then’ is used in time-related statements and ‘than’ is used for comparing two things.

For example:

• I went to the store, then on to the library. (This is a timing issue. I went to the store first and the library afterwards.)

• I like chocolate cake better than strawberry shortcake. (Not necessarily true… but I’m comparing two items.)

So you simply have to remember -

• Then - Time related

• Than - Comparison

I hope that helps readers and writers see clearly which word to use where. I’ll be posting more of these when I don’t have writing or life updates to share with you.

For now, that’s it!

Until next time…
Keep turning pages.