Then vs Than.

[samgab]

It's a silly little thing, but hey, it says "Rant or Rave", so:

Has anyone else noticed the incorrect usage of the word "then" lately?
Eg: "I was walking down the road faster then Jane".

What? The word is <B><I>THAN</B></I>.

Just wanted to vent about that. There's no cure for what I have.

[p.dath]

I think I would rather have more sleep than devoting time to thinking about the subject.

[samgab]

I think I would rather have more sleep than devoting time to thinking about the subject.

Correction: "I think I would rather have more sleep then devoting time to thinking about the subject."
-errr, I think that's it. Or, wait no... But I quite understand. I'd rather be sleeping at 5pm too.

[NighthawkNZ]

Correction: "I think I would rather have more sleep then devoting time to thinking about the subject."
-errr, I think that's it. Or, wait no... But I quite understand. I'd rather be sleeping at 5pm too.


Both options in that is correct... and gives the sentence a difference meaning

[Edbear]

English is probably the most tortured language on Earth. It seems fewer and fewer people know how to read, speak or write it properly and most just don't care anyway.

[scumdog]

Yeah, good England is not really sort after these days....

[sinfull]

most just don't care anyway. Well it dosen't matter than does it !

[Edbear]

Well it dosen't matter than does it !


LOL!!!


I think it does, but then I'm old school and did well at English back in school. The other advantage is that my writing, editing and proof-reading skills are becoming very sought after due to the fact that people need to be able to communicate...

Who would have thought that even a good basic knowledge of English would become a potential vocation?

[Indiana_Jones]

<img src="http://msp255.photobucket.com/albums/hh142/mrheavymetal_01/wahmbulance.jpg">

-Indy

[samgab]

LOL!!!


I think it does, but then I'm old school and did well at English back in school. The other advantage is that my writing, editing and proof-reading skills are becoming very sought after due to the fact that people need to be able to communicate...

Who would have thought that even a good basic knowledge of English would become a potential vocation?

I believe I missed my calling as a proof reader. Most spelling and grammar errors are glaringly apparent. Having said that, my spelling certainly isn't what it once was, thanks to spell check.

[samgab]

I saw them! Their going down they're with there dictionaries...

[samgab]

...and a bear naked beer drinking bare.

[sinfull]

LOL!!!


I think it does, but then I'm old school and did well at English back in school. The other advantage is that my writing, editing and proof-reading skills are becoming very sought after due to the fact that people need to be able to communicate...

Who would have thought that even a good basic knowledge of English would become a potential vocation?

Although I didn't do so well at school, i am rather pedantic when it comes to spelling and punctuation and will sit and read through anything i write several times changing this and that !
I know that I still make alot of punctuation mistakes, but reading it over a few times i know it makes sense, so i'll hit submit haha
The example i used on you is one that really grates me when i see it, it doesn't even sound right !

My partner Heidi is one whom i'd call a "literate" person, she's doing a one year graduate diploma in early childhood and you can imagine the workload involved with cramming a 3 year course into one !
But still she's insisted on setting up a study group of her peers (90% of whom, english is their 2nd language) who are having trouble with their grammar and comprehension !
So now when i ask what she's up to while she's tapping away at the laptop, the chances are she's punctuating (read: changing the odd word, but not what they've written) everybody elses essays rather than writing her own !
I managed to drag her away from her pc yesterday for a day on the bike and still her cell went off, with one of the other students asking her to edit an essay for her, which was a resubmitt after failing first time out AND was due today !
Epic fail ............

[NighthawkNZ]

English is probably the most tortured language on Earth. It seems fewer and fewer people know how to read, speak or write it properly and most just don't care anyway.

we have this documentary series on the English language how it has evolved and still is evolving... its very interesting.. you'd be surprised what you are saying and its origins... and how the language is now the most use language (and that includes chiness, as they use English to conduct business with other countries etc) there are now sub categories in the language as different countries are starting to get there own dialect

[sinfull]

thanks to spell check.

We have spell check ?

[<G>]

They were saying "than" - it's the Kiwi pronunciation that makes it sound like "then" - have you heard how some Kiwis say Ellen/Allan - can you really tell the difference? And what about bear and beer - another favourite.

[rat biker 08]

Who the hell cars:Oops: cares:beer::zzzz: .

[samgab]

They were saying "than" - it's the Kiwi pronunciation that makes it sound like "then" - have you heard how some Kiwis say Ellen/Allan - can you really tell the difference? And what about bear and beer - another favourite.

Lol, I am a "Kaiwai"... I'm talking about typed communication, not verbal. :)

[samgab]

We have spell check ?

In Firefox. :2thumbsup

[short-circuit]

Lol, I am a "Kaiwai"... I'm talking about typed communication, not verbal. :)

Where have you seen this?

[Edbear]

we have this documentary series on the English language how it has evolved and still is evolving... its very interesting.. you'd be surprised what you are saying and its origins... and how the language is now the most use language (and that includes chiness, as they use English to conduct business with other countries etc) there are now sub categories in the language as different countries are starting to get there own dialect

Yeah, I read exerpts from the English language some years ago and I think from memory, I couldn't read back further than about the 16th Cent. It does irk me that people seem to have an almost perverse antagonism to speaking or writing correctly, but I suppose Aristotle would have felt the same. I doubt it's a new problem.

[James Deuce]

"Thou" instead of "though" is a vastly more cretinous crime.

[Mom]

We have spell check ?

Apparently some of us do. We dont seem to have it no matter which browser we open. We rely on the education we received, our superior intelligence, the dictionary and a shed load of luck to get it right for the most part :buggerd:


I doubt it's a new problem.

Yes I agree, you are an old fart :yes:

[Edbear]

Apparently some of us do. We dont seem to have it no matter which browser we open. We rely on the education we received, our superior intelligence, the dictionary and a shed load of luck to get it right for the most part :buggerd:



Yes I agree, you are an old fart :yes:

Hey, just because me and Aristotle go way back... ;)

and my farts only smell old...:(

[steve_t]

They were saying "than" - it's the Kiwi pronunciation that makes it sound like "then" - have you heard how some Kiwis say Ellen/Allan - can you really tell the difference? And what about bear and beer - another favourite.

Well done with 'pronunciation'. My old english teacher's pet peeve was people saying 'pronounciation'... quite frankly I think it should be 'pronounciation'!!! :2thumbsup

[Ragingrob]

Almost as bad as the 'there/their/they're' difficulties some people somehow have.

[MsKABC]

My pet hate is this:

"I should of gone to the movies." "I could of done that."

It's have, FFS!! I should have gone to the movies. I could have done that.

Thank you, as you were.

[chasio]

I've managed to largely tune out on the intraweb (forums and the like) because if I can understand it, I figure that it's not an issue. But what really grates with me is when people publish or print with crass errors.

The Herald is prone to awful errors popping up on the website and even in the paper itself. It almost makes me miss England.

But try beating this copy from a large scale bus-stop advert for a pair of real estate agents that appeared a short while ago around here. I don't remember their names but if I ever see either of them, I hope I am not armed:


Other's maybe selling
Our's are sold
(sic)

So short and yet, so very wrong. That someone should have paid a printer to waste ink and paper on such an abomination would make me shudder every time I rode past it.

Sadly, most schools teach neither grammar nor spelling effectively: it is no longer a priority and some teachers leave a lot to be desired themselves. Combine that with the fact that so many kids do most of their reading online and I cannot imagine that it is likely to improve.

So ill just have to learn how 2 ignore all there mistake's insted.

Cheers - Chasio

PS Hopefully all errors are deliberate but if not, it's a forum after all! :)

[NDORFN]

Here's one for ya then... Say a place called "John's Bar". Take the apostrophe between the 'n' and the 's' in John's. What the fuck is that for? I was taught that an apostrophe denotes a missing letter or letters ie. Don't = do not. I was also taught that in the case of a name preceeding something that belongs to them, the use of an apostrophe denotes the belonging to ie "Johns' Bar", yet I rarely see it used. Proof read this smarty pantses! Or is it "Pants's"? Or "Pants'"?:wacko:

[samgab]

Here's one for ya then... Say a place called "John's Bar". Take the apostrophe between the 'n' and the 's' in John's. What the fuck is that for? I was taught that an apostrophe denotes a missing letter or letters ie. Don't = do not. I was also taught that in the case of a name preceding something that belongs to them, the use of an apostrophe denotes the belonging to ie "Johns' Bar", yet I rarely see it used. Proof read this smarty pantses! Or is it "Pants's"? Or "Pants'"?:wacko:

Hey. Well, it is used for contractions, yes. "It is" becoming "it's".
Also to denote ownership, or possessive nouns. "That's John's bike". Not a contraction in that case, just the rule for ownership, John owns the bike.
The apostrophe coming afterward is when there is a plural, using ownership -- or if it is a name that ends in "s" anyway.
For instance: No no, it's Jesus' bike.
Or if it's a possessive plural: "Those are the bikes' attachments". There are multiple bikes, and the attachments belong to them.
"The Johns' Bar" would be correct if 2 or more people by the name of John owned the bar. If there is only one John who owns the bar, it's John's bar.
Clear as mud?

PS: I have no clue, I'm making it up as I go ;)

[samgab]

Another 2 that bug me are:

1/ Who and whom.
"You went to the shop with whom?"
"Who is walking up the driveway?"
Easy rule: He-who, him-whom.
Swap the sentence around, and if you'd use "he" it should be a "who", and if you'd use "him" it should be "whom".

2/ I and me.
"John and I are going to the shop."
"Come to the shop with John and me."
Easy rule: remove the other person, and see if the sentence still makes sense.
E.g. "I am going to the shop" rather than "Me am going to the shop" and
"Come to the shop with me" rather than "Come to the shop with I."

Oh no! Some of my crazy got out!

[Mom]

"You went to the shop with whom?"


Oh no! Some of my crazy got out!

Why not make it really easy and ask, "Who did you go to the shop with?" :dodge:

You are not crazy...

obsessed a little maybe :sunny:

[chasio]

Samgab - please become a teacher if you're not one already. That's the kind of craziness New Zealand needs more of. :2thumbsup

[Edbear]

Another pet peeve is the phrase, "different to". That really grates! It should be either "different from" or "similar to", yet very few people even in the media can get it right.

[scumdog]

Another pet peeve is the phrase, "different to". That really grates! It should be either "different from" or "similar to", yet very few people even in the media can get it right.


Or: "The same difference"

WTF, how can you compare differences????:argh:

"ooh look, both bikes are not red..."

[Grahameeboy]

English is probably the most tortured language on Earth. It seems fewer and fewer people know how to read, speak or write it properly and most just don't care anyway.

English has evolved (sorry to use that word) and is vastly different to what it was even 150 years ago so it is just language evolving....I mean look at UK with it's different dialects.....

[Grahameeboy]

another pet peeve is the phrase, "different to". That really grates! It should be either "different from" or "similar to", yet very few people even in the media can get it right.

let it go mr ed

[steve_t]

Hey. Well, it is used for contractions, yes. "It is" becoming "it's".
Also to denote ownership, or possessive nouns. "That's John's bike". Not a contraction in that case, just the rule for ownership, John owns the bike.
The apostrophe coming afterward is when there is a plural, using ownership -- or if it is a name that ends in "s" anyway.
For instance: No no, it's Jesus' bike.
Or if it's a possessive plural: "Those are the bikes' attachments". There are multiple bikes, and the attachments belong to them.
"The Johns' Bar" would be correct if 2 or more people by the name of John owned the bar. If there is only one John who owns the bar, it's John's bar.
Clear as mud?

PS: I have no clue, I'm making it up as I go ;)

You're right. "John's bar" describes the bar that belongs to John - hence ownership. Where it gets really messed up is It's means It is and Its means 'that which belongs to it' - the only time ownership doesn't have a friggin apostrophe. English is a messed up language!!

[Grahameeboy]

Why not make it really easy and ask, "Who did you go to the shop with?" :dodge:

You are not crazy...

obsessed a little maybe :sunny:

Why not just order it on line:whistle:

[Edbear]

Or: "The same difference"

WTF, how can you compare differences????:argh:

"ooh look, both bikes are not red..."

It reminds me of that riddle, "What is the difference between a duck?" Answer, "One of its legs is both the same." :pinch:


let it go mr ed

Awww! Spoilsport... :girlfight:

[Grahameeboy]

You're right. "John's bar" describes the bar that belongs to John - hence ownership. Where it gets really messed up is It's means It is and Its means 'that which belongs to it' - the only time ownership doesn't have a friggin apostrophe. English is a messed up language!!

Would you Adam & Even it...fancy a Robin Murray

[Grahameeboy]

[QUOTE=Edbear;1129249724]It reminds me of that riddle, "What is the difference between a duck?" Answer, "One of its legs is both the same." :pinch:



Awww! Spoilsport... :girlfight:[QUOTE]
No that's called an "Advocate" silly billy

[samgab]

To be read (red) aloud (allowed) after a few beers:

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation — think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough –
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

[Edbear]

[QUOTE=Edbear;1129249724]It reminds me of that riddle, "What is the difference between a duck?" Answer, "One of its legs is both the same." :pinch:



Awww! Spoilsport... :girlfight:[QUOTE]
No that's called an "Advocate" silly billy

That's a drink isn't it...?

[Grahameeboy]

[QUOTE=Grahameeboy;1129249731][QUOTE=Edbear;1129249724]It reminds me of that riddle, "What is the difference between a duck?" Answer, "One of its legs is both the same." :pinch:



Awww! Spoilsport... :girlfight:

That's a drink isn't it...?

I wonder and now that explains a lot Mr Ed;)

[Grahameeboy]

To be read (red) aloud (allowed) after a few beers:

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation — think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough –
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

Sounds like it's too late for you..........

[Edbear]

[QUOTE=Edbear;1129249745][QUOTE=Grahameeboy;1129249731]



I wonder and now that explains a lot Mr Ed;)

Yes, and Advocat doesn't have an 'e' on the end...

Tastes good but...

[Ixion]

Wot r u all drvlng on abt. It ! mk ny dffnce @ * in 20 yz all b fgtn. txt is wy of futr

[YellowDog]

Getting your English spelling right and ensuring your grammar is correct is only really of any value if you want to get a decent job.

Otherwise, as has already been said many times on this thread; why bother?

[Skyryder]

You're right. "John's bar" describes the bar that belongs to John - hence ownership. Where it gets really messed up is It's means It is and Its means 'that which belongs to it' - the only time ownership doesn't have a friggin apostrophe. English is a messed up language!!




John's Bar is singular where as Johns' Bar is plural. Without the apostrophe

Johns Bar is defined still singular but many interpret this as plural.

"I am going to Johns Bar" as the spoken, word there is no reason for this to be defined singular or plural but the written word where you are telling the reader additional information, the apostrophe needs to be used to distinguish the difference.


Skyryder

[Skyryder]

With the use of 'then' a time is implied 'than' implies a comparison.


Skyryder

[boomer]

Some of you cnuts need to get out more.

[idb]

Don't aks me.

[idb]

F*%k apostrophe's!

Some people are just too possessive!!!

[Edbear]

F*%k apostrophe's!

Some people are just too possessive!!!

Don't you mean "obsessive"? Or am I just being pedantic...?;)

[idb]

Don't you mean "obsessive"? Or am I just being pedantic...?;)

You play with children?

[Edbear]

You play with children?

Only on special occaisions. I've been known to play trains, play ball, roll over and play dead and even play up at various times. I've bottle-fed and burped, but these days as a Grandpa I hand them back for the messy stuff.