Guest Post: Maggie and the Defeat
Here is a second guest post from Maggie. Enjoy the read.
I need to admit something. I figure, what better way to do that th…CRAP!!! See, this is exactly what I am talking about. I couldn’t finish that sentence right there because i didn’t know if it was THEN or THAN. I am 21 years old and still have no clue when to use either of those words. And then/than i end up hitting the backspace a million times trying to come up with another way to say then/than. Or sometimes I send someone a text with the improper then/than and then/than they write me back using the correct version…but they don’t tell me that I was wrong, so I end up feeling like a complete moron. I have struggled with this for a long time. I think it’s important in my life to admit my defeats. I won’t ever grow as a person if I don’t allow other people to know my weaknesses. Well, people, this is a huge weakness of mine and I would say that I would like your help, but the truth is, I could figure out which one is which and progressively get better, but it bothers me to have to re-learn something. I should have learned and held on to this a long time ago.

September 1st, 2007 at Sep 01, 07 | 11:06 am
Maggie,
Please do not despair, it is a tough concept which many a brilliant person still gets wrong. Believe it or not, even I do not know exactly when to use it. I will make it a PC the dos policy to practice the correct way so that you may learn it without even realizing that you are learning.
November 21st, 2007 at Nov 21, 07 | 6:09 pm
Ooo. Ooo. I have the answer. ‘Then’ is generally used temporally, i.e. I went to the store, then I went to the coffee shop, then I went home. It’s used in reference to time and causation (If x then Y). ‘Than’ is used for relations and comparisons. Relationally, I would RATHER bicycle all day THAN go to school. Comparatively, Matt is BETTER looking THAN Brendan (arguably). Yeah. Sweet. If this makes sense then I hope it helps alleviate your then/than angst.
-bH
November 21st, 2007 at Nov 21, 07 | 11:14 pm
“Matt is BETTER looking THAN Brendan”
Can’t ague with that. Thanks for the lesson Brendan!