It’s really quite simple, this poor habit of hurried speech –it harms no one at all, not the listener or the speaker. But in written form, oh my! Comments on social media, papers about to be handed in (yes I AM looking at you “Night baker”).

How on earth does THEN and THAN become interchangeable?

Uh-huh, no-way, not on my watch!

Now to be clear, I am no editor. Line edits leave my hamster brain ready to perform Seppuku, whereas continuity and voice stand out to me like neon lights. 

Some years ago, after much eye rollingand a brave, “Oh really Mum, does it matter?” I wiped a fleck of foam from the corner of my mouth and explained it this way:

Would you rather wash the dishes THEN take out the garbage?

OR…. Would you rather wash the dishes THAN take out the garbage?

Point taken, begrudgingly.

Words matter. Two dollar ones, ten dollar ones all have their place in our big tent predatory language. Be kind, be clever but for the love of the written word use them correctly. 

Here’s a link to some common usage errors*.

Are any of your bugbears missing from this list? Please indulge yourself in the comments below, you’ll feel better. I certainly do.

*I/we are not responsible for the content linked, and have no affiliation with the content or sight representative. At the time of this post the link offers a list of common english language usage errors.