Upon request: "than or then"

While you are at it, oh mistress of the English language, could you please reiterate the very simple yet critical difference between the words "then" and "than". I've seen every form of text from email to newsprint to corporate websites that misuse/interchange these two words as though either is acceptable in either one's place.

By Joe on ...and they're off, or is it 'their', or 'there'??... on 9/15/10

  

Thank you for your comment, Joe.  To answer the above comment from Joe:

You bring up another of about 1000 ways I see students and adults butchering the English language on a daily basis!  All of them make me cringe.  The "then/than" mistake ranks pretty high.  Most people don't distinguish between the two word - how this happened, I don't know.  These two words are NEVER interchangeable.  The rules are:

Than is used in comparative statements. 

EXAMPLE:  He is taller than I am.

Then is used either as a time marker or with a sequence of events.

EXAMPLE:

I took all of the exams in the morning, and then I spent the rest of the day catching up on sleep.

Just like other grammatical and syntactical mistakes, rushing through what you are writing is to blame!  I am surprised that no one brought up "effect/affect" - clearly the definitions of these two words have been erased from our scope of knowledge, too. FYI:

Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, The rain affected Amy's hairdo.

Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, She affected an air of superiority.

Effect with an e has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, The effect was eye-popping, or The sound effects were amazing, or The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo.

...And don't even get me started on commas!!  By the way, I don't even enjoy teaching grammar but I understand the need to learn, and more importantly, remember it!