When should you use "then" and when "than"?
As far as I know, then is used in a conjunction and in time-related sentences; than in all other cases. I believe that these are correct:
- Because I'm older than she, I should be the first chosen;
- I loved her and then she died;
- If it rains [then] it pours;
- I've had more then enough;
- Would you rather be a mouse then a rat?
- Who, other than you, likes the color red?
Or not? Can someone help me out clearing the mud? I think I'm 90% there, but I like to finally understand it completely. If you have other uses of then/than that I missed, please add yours.
Solution 1:
Because I'm older than she, I should be the first chosen.
I loved her and then she died.
If it rains, then it pours.
I've had more than enough.
Would you rather be a mouse than a rat?
Who, other than you, likes the color red?
When there is a comparison, you use than; then means:
- at that time; at the time in question: I was living in Cairo then | [after preposition] Phoebe by then was exhausted | [as adjective] a hotel where the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was staying.
- after that; next; afterward: she won the first and then the second game.
- also; in addition: I'm paid a generous salary, and then there's the money I've made at the races.
- in that case; therefore: if you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about | well, that's okay then.
- used at the end of a sentence to emphasize an inference being drawn: so you're still here, then.
- used to finish off a conversation: see you in an hour, then.
(See also the definition of then given in the Oxford Living Dictionaries.)
Solution 2:
Two corrections:
- I’ve had more than enough.
- Would you rather be a mouse than a rat?
Both “rather . . . than . . .” and “more than” are fixed expressions.