Than and Then, I’m feeling mischievous.
Everyone makes grammar and usage mistakes. I try not to be too obnoxious about them, but there are two that really cheese me off. THAN is a comparison – “your sister is more fat THAN my sister”. THEN is a measure of sequence – “I will bust your jaw for calling my sister fat THEN I will kick you in the jumblies”. I really, really can’t stand it when people mix these up in writing. When saying them, they sound so similar you’d really have to be a jerk to point it out. I’m working on that. The spoken error that really chafes me is MISCHIEVOUS. Notice there is no long e vowel after the V. It’s MIS-CHUH-VUHS Two UH sounds like when you get punched in the gut for calling someone’s sister fat, or like the word DUH. People who say MIS-CHEE-VEE-UHS are wrong and sound dumb. There, I said it. Oh, and there’s no X in espresso. That one’s free.
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