Than vs Then

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The Vikings are better than the Packers, but then again, I am biased because I’m from Minnesota.

Before you go getting all football-up-in-my-face, let me just say publicly that honestly, I don’t care about either team. I’m simply making a point of how to use THAN and THEN, possibly the two most confused words in world history.

Here’s the deal:

THAN is a comparison.

THEN is a description of time.

Sure, you can get more technical and talk about conjunctions and phrases and adverbs, but who in the world is going to remember that?

Even easier, you don’t have to remember what both mean. Pick one and run with it. Personally, I just remember that THAN is a comparison. So if I’m writing something and it’s not a comparison, I make sure I use THEN. Savvy?

Let’s take this out for a test drive.

I will always rather go shopping THAN to the gym.

In this sentence, I’m comparing shopping and exercise. Seriously, is there really any choice to make? This is where the word THAN comes in handy.

I will go shopping THEN toodle over to the gym.

See the sequence of events? Yep. I’ve got my priorities straight. I’m not comparing shopping or the gym in this sentence, so THEN is the right word to use.

There you have it. Easy peasy. Now if I could just figure out lay and lie.