Random Poll of the Day! (514)

[PhoenixTears]

Spelling mistakes. Particularly because of typos.

(As a side note, "spelling" almost came out as "speeling.")

[dilbertschalter]

capitalization, but that's due to laziness, not forgetting. in terms of "mistakes", typos would be #1.

[aly_angelflight]

When I do make a mistake, it's usually a spelling error. 

[Commi-Ninja]

i DOn't hAvE a PROBlem wiTH cAPitaliZATion aT AlL.

[ProfParanoia]

then and than

[mangaluva]

I typo a lot. That's about it.

[IHKF]

I accidently put apostrophes places they shouldn't go... I always go back and fix it though. ^_^'

[prince_echizen]

i put forget to capitalize, but it's more like i'm too lazy to capitalize.

[Jd-]

then and than

You won't have to worry about this for long. Like "who" and "whom", it's not going to matter soon I do not believe. Key is to just remember "than" is solely for comparisons ("I like The Godfather more than any other movie"). Every other instance, stick with "then".

[Commi-Ninja]

You won't have to worry about this for long. Like "who" and "whom", it's not going to matter soon I do not believe.

Why wouldn't it matter?  It's very different from "who" and "whom", in that it's much easier to distinguish which word ought to be used.  I don't see any reason not to have that distinction remain.  I don't know about you, but I'd be majorly confused if it suddenly didn't matter whether you used "then" or "than".  Their meanings are not anything alike....

[Jd-]

Why wouldn't it matter?  It's very different from "who" and "whom", in that it's much easier to distinguish which word ought to be used.  I don't see any reason not to have that distinction remain.  I don't know about you, but I'd be majorly confused if it suddenly didn't matter whether you used "then" or "than".  Their meanings are not anything alike....

I don't make the rules--I just know them all.

But, in all seriousnessbidness, people have difficulty with such principles (not Prof specifically, just in general) and that will lead to the language evolving, for better or worse. The reason that "than" may become extinct in many cases is due to the fact that it is rarely pronounced in its intended, stressed form. When most American English speakers say "more than" in conversation, they actually sound like they're saying "more then". "Than" requires a slightly greater vocal investment and is somewhat less convenient to say (even if it is only marginally so) than "then". Only in a sentence like the last one (where I specifically had to point out the differences) is it usually of major consequence, though there are of course exceptions. That's why I bring up "who" vs. "whom", because while the principle behind "who" vs. "whom" is slightly more difficult to understand, "than" is going to slowly fade into lesser prominence along with "whom"--not because of any sort of relative difficulty or anything like that.

Sorry if this post is a mess (how ironic, given the topic). There's a mafia round starting like, now'ish. I'll come edit this later if necessary.

[Commi-Ninja]

I understand what you're saying, I just... think it's ridiculous to do away with "than".  While not everyone likes to properly pronounce the word (and I admit: I only do when it is necessary for comprehension's sake), it's still dumb to just get rid of it.  Who/whom is a whole lot harder to understand, enough that it's difficult to even teach.  Then/than isn't terribly difficult to teach if the student is actually paying attention.