After going through my huge stack of mail, I was pleased to find the newest issue of Writers Digest. I struggled for months with whether I should renew my subscription, boy am I glad I did. Let me just say that I have a few foibles that have haunted me since I began to write seriously.
For example, the difference between then and than has eluded me for years. I'm smart enough to go back and do a find before I send in my manuscripts, but I would much rather save myself the work and not make the mistake in the first place.
I’ve read several short explanations of how to determine which word to use, but none has stuck with me well enough to become natural in the heat of the write.
I opened my trusty Writers Digest this morning and I saw the following advice:
The word than is used to compare things (note the word compare has an a in it)
The word then is used to reference time (note the word time has an e in it)
That’s all I had to read. I’ve got it now. Of course I could muddy the waters by mentioning that then can be used to replace the phrase, “in that case,” but I’ve decided to never use that phrase in my writing ever again just so I won’t have to remember that part.
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