Meet Than and Then

[theyoungmillionaire]

Sorry, not a then DT1 member or greater than new DT1 member(s) topic.

I have noticed some members who actually have some enough merits misusing than and then. They used then when in fact they meant than when opening a topic or replying to a topic. I’m not a major in English professor and not my native language, but, I hope this topic will help newbies and other members to make some improvement regarding these two commonly confused words, especially when instructing or opening a topic that is worth reading.

Searched bitcointalk about this kind of topic, didn't find any. If there are already topic like this, kindly link it here to be added.

Than and then

There's nothing more embarrassing then correcting someone's language only to realize that your correction contains its own error.

Did you see it? That harmless little four-letter word then. It should have been than. That’s one example when using than and then.

Then has two meanings.

1.  Then usually refers to time, meaning "at that time."
       Example of then meaning "at that time"


2.  Then can also be used as a transition to mean "in that case" or "therefore."
       Example of then meaning "in that case" or "therefore"


Than is used only when comparing items.  (Then is never used in comparisons.)
       Examples of than used to compare items


•   Expect it to take a little longer than usual for Electrum to be ready. (Correct)
•   Expect it to take a little longer then usual for Electrum to be ready. (Wrong)
•   I don't think it will be less than hundred. (Correct)
•   I don't think it will be less then hundred. (Wrong)
•   I would rather eat than sleep. (Correct)
•   I would rather eat then sleep. (Wrong)

So when did this pair get so confusing? Turns out they've always been that way. Linguistically speaking, they're identical twins. In Middle English, they were the same word; both spellings were used for all the various meanings. It's been a few hundred years, however, since English has treated them as distinct, which means we have to too. We could go back to Middle English, but we think that would be harder then—um, that is, harder than—mastering these.

TIPS:

Apart from thinking about the meanings of than and then, another way to get the spelling right is to remember that then is like when: both are spelled with an ‘e’ and both are used to talk about time (which ends with an ‘e’).

Than is used to make comparisons. Both than and comparison have a letter “A” in them.

Summary

These two words are very close in their appearance, but than vs. then have very different uses.

Then is commonly used to express a sense of time or what comes next or used to be.

Than is used to form comparisons between two things.
Sources:
then vs than difference
2017/06/12/than or then confusables/
words at play/when to use then and than
then than

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[Coyster]

This is a very nice topic on the difference between the two words and in context were they should/can be used and in situations when they are correct or wrong
But i do not think there is actually a large number of members mixing the both words up,this(both of'em) are easily understood words with distinct meanings attached to the both of'em.
But it's a nice topic and it was an interesting read I must confess,really educative and enriching

[sheenshane]

snip-
But i do not think there is actually a large number of members mixing the both words up,this(both of'em) are easily understood words with distinct meanings attached to the both of'em.

Not large but still, having large merit who doesn't know how to used than and then ain't good to our newbies and outsiders reading our forum.

e.g. High rank I don't want to name it sorry mate.

then 268k member

e.g newbies

more then 50k BTC

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5028498.0

more then 1 value

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=139821.0

Some example that I found the forum who used then instead of than.
I see that it is like there is no difference between sr. vs newbie and even me, I got a mistake on this. Indeed, it's very informative.

[logfiles]

It's common, only that some of us get to understand that not all forum members are perfect at written English, and then we go ahead and try to decipher what they meant.

However on my Firefox, I do use an extension called languageTool, it saves me from some of those spelling mistakes and sometimes punctuation + grammar.

Like in this case


https://languagetool.org/

[joniboini]

See this mistake many times actually. I think it's just their habit or probably a typo so I don't care that much. But if they really mistake than and then I guess they need to learn the truth. Nice thread OP.

languageTool, it saves me from some of those spelling mistakes and sometimes punctuation + grammar.

This is a nice tool, I use this too alongside with Grammarly sometimes.

[Upgrade00]

This is one of many grammatical blunders that even those with English as their first language can make.
I do not see it often, maybe cause I read past the error and my brain corrects it unconsciously.
Your post and the added infographics would be very valuable to anyone who makes that mistake.

[Pmalek]

I tend to overlook the Than and Then cases of misspelling. What I really don't like are the Your and You're mistakes.
As in: Your really good with grammar.

I have also seen There and Their being mixed.
Their is a big difference between Bitcoin and other Altcoins.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

My most common grammatical challenge was the failure to make a difference among these three words Loss, Loose and Lose
but when I read Confused Words #3: Lose, Loose, Loss about a year ago I clearly started to understand and get a big difference between the words.

[bitmover]

There is also one more : them.

When you are referring to third person plural.

So you have 3: than then and them.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Just to add here, I'm mostly using my mobile to read and post in the forum. Sometimes when you write something autocorrect can mess up the text quite a lot so my mistakes are not always because of ignorance but often typos.
After I make a post, I try to go through it again and correct any spotted mistakes, but I don't do it so often as I want.
It happens sometimes to correct errors of posts I've made months ago.

[Jet Cash]

I'm leaving myself open here, but I would suggest a couple of changes.

"They ate dinner, and then they went home" is not "at that time", but indicates a subsequent action. Obviously they didn't go home as they were eating dinner.

I would have used "compared with" rather than "compared to", as the elements are of the same order. I guess this one is a subjective judgement though.

[typo corrected - sorry for that]

I think I'm superimposing some social niceties on the eating of dinner. I would have preferred to say "They went home after they had eaten dinner", as this removes the immediacy of the action.

[sheenshane]

snip-
"They are dinner, and then they went home" is not "at that time", but indicates a subsequent action. Obviously they didn't go home as they were eating dinner.

I would have used "compared with" rather than "compared to", as the elements are of the same order. I guess this one is a subjective judgement though.

I read twice your sentence as a sample above but I think there's one word you've misread. Probably it should be " They ate" not "They are.

"They ate" meaning after they eat ain't while eating, I think you misread to OP mate.

The samples are correct IMO, AFAIK samples are just simply so that ordinary people like me can understand easily. Second is with and to are subjective no worries about it.

[jademaxsuy]

Than and then are one of the words that are incorrectly used when posting here bitcointalk. As I read one of the replies here, I spotted some mistake already. Here's an example of words that are incorrectly used: "THIS", "THESE", "THAN", "THEN", "WHERE", "WERE", "LOST", "LOSE", "LOOSE". Actually, there are more words that can confuse a poster and reader here. More examples here https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/10/08/31-commonly-confused-words/
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/commonly-confused-words

[Ciscopro2000]

I didn’t realize there was so much confusion over these two words. 

[nakamura12]

I didn’t realize there was so much confusion over these two words.  

You should understand why there's so much confusion with the two words or let me say also other words like expensive and expansive which is one letter difference only but if you use it in wrong way then the meaning of sentence will also change.

[Lagonda]

English is not my first language but I don't find any difficulty distinguishing these two words. Instead, I was taught exactly as Jet Cash's:

"They are dinner, and then they went home" is not "at that time", but indicates a subsequent action. Obviously they didn't go home as they were eating dinner.

I didn’t realize there was so much confusion over these two words. 

You should understand why there's so much confusion with the two words or let me say also other words like expensive and expansive which is one letter difference only but if you use it in wrong way then the meaning of sentence will also change.

In than vs then case, it's just spelling confusing. I find no problem with expensive and expansive either but sometimes I'm confused between "bring" vs "take" or "further" vs "farther".

[sheenshane]

I didn’t realize there was so much confusion over these two words. 

Now you know mate. When you stay longer in the forum you will learn more about so many things not just about bitcoin but everything. Ain't nobody teaches that in your schools. I saw someone link this topic to help the OP on handling this error, only proves that this topic is very informative or helpful. IMO

[crwth]

The English language is a mystery yet to be solved. Lol

I didn’t realize there was so much confusion over these two words. 

There can be a lot of confusion around the English language like misplaced apostrophes, your/you're, its/it's, could/would/should of, there/their/they’re, fewer/less, to/two/too, who/whom, etc. There are tons of it, you just have to be proficient enough to really apply them.

I guess knowing that you have made a mistake is a start of improvement and correcting them means you have learned.

Reference: https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/15-common-grammar-gripes-avoid.html

[Crypto Girl]

" Punctuation saves lives "

Really sometimes we're being a "grammar nazi' and we can't help to correct people, I don't know but we're getting annoyed seeing those grammatically wrong and misspelled words. So how do you know if you're a grammar nazi?
Check THIS out.

[Retina]

Many times we make a lot of mistakes, in that case, we all make mistakes in one or the other matter of grammar that may be deliberate or unwilling to do so.
If you can use Grammarly add on(Grammarly add on perfectly use for Chrome) many things will be solved.

[Bitze]

Many times we make a lot of mistakes, in that case, we all make mistakes in one or the other matter of grammar that may be deliberate or unwilling to do so.
If you can use Grammarly add on(Grammarly add on perfectly use for Chrome) many things will be solved.

i have no experience with it but thanks for this tip. as i often rely on tools to understand and write in other languages, i take a closer look at it. thanks a lot.

[Ipwich]

I also noticed some posters using then instead of than.
Thanks for bringing this matter up but I think these words are not confusing if a person understands basic English.
I understands that some are using google translate, I'm not sure if it will result to this kind of error.

[Retina]

Many times we make a lot of mistakes, in that case, we all make mistakes in one or the other matter of grammar that may be deliberate or unwilling to do so.
If you can use Grammarly add on(Grammarly add on perfectly use for Chrome) many things will be solved.

I have no experience with it but thanks for this tip. as I often rely on tools to understand and write in other languages, I take a closer look at it. thanks a lot.

Thanks man for inspiring me a lot of tools and add-on still now online but many add-on or tools publish by the scammer some tools use very risky so that if you use any premium/pro antivirus (don't use cracked version, use like official pro license key) safety for your computer and so blocked any fishing link and file.



Note: I'm using "Eset internet security" anty virus it may help me when I click any fishing link or download fishing file so block and clean instantly, you can use any trusted 'Internet security antivirus' and safely online.

[zhekinsp]

I also noticed some posters using then instead of than.
Thanks for bringing this matter up but I think these words are not confusing if a person understands basic English.
I understands that some are using google translate, I'm not sure if it will result to this kind of error.

It happens lot with the google translations when they are doing it from their local language completely without having basic English skills.

Thanks man for inspiring me a lot of tools and add-on still now online but many add-on or tools publish by the scammer some tools use very risky so that if you use any premium/pro antivirus (don't use cracked version, use like official pro license key) safety for your computer and so blocked any fishing link and file.



Note: I'm using "Eset internet security" anty virus it may help me when I click any fishing link or download fishing file so block and clean instantly, you can use any trusted 'Internet security antivirus' and safely online.

I don't know about this antivirus but better having complete antivirus package like avast might be more secured than internet security.

[DdmrDdmr]

A few real case Bitcointalk scenario cases related to what the OP comments, where 'then' and 'than' are wrongly used:

<…> You're interested and want to learn more about it ? Than you just need to click <…>
<…> You want to join the campaign ? Than you need to fill this <…>

<...> Like and share at least 3 posts per week from our Page (in case there are less than 3 posts were published, than you should like and share all posts that’ve been published previous week)<...>
<…> Like and share at least 5 tweets per week from our Twitter (in case there are less than 5 posts were published, than you should like and share all posts that’ve been published this week)<...>
 

<…>PS: Do not invest more then you can afford to loose, do alot research. <...>

   

<…> Just always remember never put in more then you can afford/are comfortable to lose <…>

[Last of the V8s]

•   I don't think it will be less than hundred. (Correct)
•   I don't think it will be less then hundred. (Wrong)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that whenever someone makes a post about grammar they will include a grammatical error of another sort in that very post.

[crwth]

" Punctuation saves lives "

I am honestly one of those people who is annoyed with incorrect grammar (not that I'm perfect though). I use Grammarly always, and it has always been a savior for me from basic mistakes like basic punctuation errors. I often make mistakes like this

Basically he thinks I have Bitcoin to spare.

It should be

Basically, he thinks I have Bitcoin to spare.

It's as simple as that, and Grammarly detects that also.

[finaleshot2016]

I've already been through that when I'm in studying in secondary education because it's very confusing. At some point, I understand why they're confused about these words, but I don't think it's enough to be a reason to make a constant mistake. Some of you are already grown up and trying to make a path here in the forum, but we must try to search more about basic English words.

Sometimes, your sentences "sounds" like a good grammar for you but grammatically incorrect, so let's be careful with our usage of words. I admit it, I'm also one of the people who usually make a mistake in this language, but I'm still trying to make it clearer and better.  


I'm always noticing this in some newbies,
There's also a difference between "to" and "too"
To is a preposition or sometimes it's verb infinitive, for example;

>I went to the forum to make high quality posts.

Too is similar to also and it's an adverb, for example;

>Do you want to make posts too?

These words are called homophones because they're sounded similar in our ears but different in meaning.

I use Grammarly always, and it has always been a savior for me from basic mistakes like basic punctuation errors.
...
It's as simple as that, and Grammarly detects that also.

Sometimes, I was using it specially long ago when we're trying to make an essay. I agree to it, It will correct all of your errors in your sentences and I hope you use it too. Now, I'm using ginger software because it can be also in Microsoft office not just only in internet browser. Here's the link; Ginger Software

[RapTarX]

At some point, I understand why they're confused about these words, but I don't think it's enough to be a reason to make a constant mistake.

These types of mistakes are most likely occured accidentally. People with good commands in grammer most often do these types of mistakes too. One requires to be too much concerned to avoid these types of mistakes while writing in a forum. People participating in forum always write in a hurry and do some these types of mistakes.

[finaleshot2016]

At some point, I understand why they're confused about these words, but I don't think it's enough to be a reason to make a constant mistake.

These types of mistakes are most likely occured accidentally. People with good commands in grammer most often do these types of mistakes too. One requires to be too much concerned to avoid these types of mistakes while writing in a forum. People participating in forum always write in a hurry and do some these types of mistakes.

The reason why they're always having mistakes is that they don't care about it, they just want the post to be counted in the bounty. Trust me, most of the participants are not quite good at English, they're just trying to ignore all of the mistakes. That's why I hate people who just wanted to get a bounty and don't want to develop their skills in writing English. It's their loss if they didn't learn it really soon.

[lienfaye]

I think "than" and "then" are just a basic english words, but some people are still having a hard time understanding their uses or they just really dont care if their post are properly express.

Im not fluent in english as well because it is not our main language however im trying my best to give my thoughts/opinion in the particular discussion that im engaging. I dont use google translate to be able to post here in this forum but I sometimes search the words that I dont understand.

Thanks theyoungmillionaire for this thread.

[RapTarX]

The reason why they're always having mistakes is that they don't care about it, they just want the post to be counted in the bounty.

Sorry that I can't agree. The subconscious mind sometimes influences you to make some mistakes which can never be realized without further reading. In that case, it's not a problem with bounty.

[cryptobaro]

Such a useful topic for people who speak/learn speak English. We make lots of mistakes and then/than can be used incorrect. Even if somene's native lang is English, they still do this error.

[marilynmanson21]

Finally there's someone creating a thread about concern that i have in my mind since a long time ago.
If i can say, I've already seen a ton of this misused grammar about than & then, not only in this forum but also in social media, mostly on Telegram Group and Channel.
I know my English or grammar is also not correct at all, because English is not my native language, but seeing people do this concern again and again is kinda irritating for me.

[AdoboCandies]

There are also different english words that commonly misused because they are homophones or meaning they sound the same like your and you're, their, there and they're  for example. "Your" and "You're", I think these two are the most commonly misused words in this forum especially in the Bitcoin discussion and Altcoin discussion maybe because they sound the same.

According to (kaplaninternational.com) "Your is the second person possessive adjective, used to describe something as belonging to you. Your is always followed by a noun or gerund." while "You’re is the contraction of "you are" and is often followed by the present participle (verb form ending in -ing)."

For example,
-I wish you’d keep you’re comments to yourself.
-I wish you’d keep your comments to yourself.

-You said that you couldn't believe you're ears.
-You said that you couldn't believe your ears.

And also "Their", "There" and "They’re" they are homophones and also mistakenly use by the others.

-There refers to a place
Put your coat down over there.
There is something to be said for telling the truth.
What is over there?
-Their Shows Possession
The red one is their house.
The beagle is their dog.
Going to the store was their idea.
-They’re is a contraction of the words they and are
They’re mastering the differences between three homophones!

[Retina]

~snip~

When someone writing fast than mistake some spelling and grammar, I do not confirm that but something is right maximum people when writing something so mistake her grammar and spelling when someone mixed 'British' and 'Latin' English.
Now when you use 'Grammarly add-ons' and selected your English (Which you like) 'British' or 'Latin' it is solved maximum mistake if your data connection on, But if you use it's free version then Still you will face some problems It will not be completely solved.

Many times we make a lot of mistakes, in that case, we all make mistakes in one or the other matter of grammar that may be deliberate or unwilling to do so.
If you can use Grammarly add on(Grammarly add on perfectly use for Chrome) many things will be solved.

an old post you can try it. it may help you.

[Onuohakk]

The explanation you gave were all correct. Then is used to explain what happened at that time. example ``he fix it, then he left. Than is for comparison as you stated. It's a common words but it's not used rightly when giving a speech.