I've recently encountered the misuse of 'then' multiple times in a story. To me it is more disruptive than the misuse of 'there' vs 'their'. Unfortunately my recent encounters are in stories where is difficult to let the author know of the error. Besides doing that is a bit disruptive to reading the story as is the misuse.
Just my rant today...
The confusion between 'then' and 'than' is a common error for many authors.
I don't understand the problem for it seems clear to me that 'then' refers to a point in time and 'than' is used with comparisons between two or more options or things.
I don't understand the problem for it seems clear to me that 'then' refers to a point in time and 'than' is used with comparisons between two or more options or things.
It might be a typing issue.
I have a few similar case of one off spellings where I know the difference, know which is right for any given case, and I still keep typing the wrong one.
I have the same sort of typing issue. Every so often I find that I typed 'loose' instead of 'lose'. This is the one that always throws me off my stride when I'm reading, and to find it in my own work when I'm going back over it is doubly annoying.
Yeah, I have a few problem words also. I catch most of those errors during several editing passes through my story before sending it to TeNderLoin.
It might be a typing issue.
I'd argue it's an editing issue. Sure, typos happen all the time, even to the best authors. That's why people need to self edit even if they don't bother to have additional editors.
So having the same error multiple times throughout a posted story means that either the author didn't self edit or that they did and missed multiple incidents of the same issue.
I'd argue it's an editing issue.
I've seen errors in commercially published dead tree books from the big publishing houses.
No editor, no amount of editing/proofreading will catch everything.
Sure, but you don't typically see the same error repeating multiple times throughout a published book. There are a lot of amateur books in which the same error shows up regularly or even routinely.
That's not simply a typo or a missed word, that's indicative of a more fundamental issue.
If I like the story enough I edit all those errors in my local copy so I won't encounter them when I reread the story. If there are too many, I must like the story very much or I will just delete it an move on to the next story.
The confusion between 'then' and 'than' is a common error for many authors.
Not just authors! ProWritingAid often suggests the wrong word (asking me to change a correct 'then' into 'than').
Misspelling and grammar errors seem to more relevant since the 1990's. Before then there were almost no online amateur authors (except some fan fiction, slash, and such on some BBS networks. Self-Published books were rare. There were some "Fanzines" and other printed works, but even those seemed to have competent editors or at least proofreaders. Quality of content in the last two decades seems to be better, IMHO.
I can only recall a very few such errors in books I read K-12, and those mostly in textbooks. Heinlein, Hemingway, or the Hardy Boys, there were no such errors I can recall. I noticed such things back then too. I averaged 96% to 99% reading comprehension on numerous tests, and that included noticing errors in the text.
Perhaps now that I have learned better how to self-edit, and have read a dozen or more books, and taken several college writing classes, I might be a bit more aware of such things. However, I still read some 200 pages a day (on average), for research and entertainment. I notice errors are present in nearly all books written after the mid-90's and almost totally absent in older books.
I believe that using word processors, and also "spell-check" programs have caused nearly everyone to "skim" and often see what they expect. There is also a tendency to over-rely upon our programs to catch most errors.
I am more likely to notice errors in another person's writing. Knowing what I intend, as well as having read, re-read, and re-read etc. so often my own writing, I (and many others just don't "see" the errors in our own writing.
Sometimes such errors bother me. Sometimes I make note of the errors, and then PM the author urging corrections. I have a volunteer proofreader, and yet both of us will miss 3 to 6 errors per 10k to 15k words per chapter.
I try to read what I post within 48 hours after posting. I write on a laptop, however, due to circumstances, I often read (and post in the forums) using my phone. Formatting, type, and layout of the paragraphs are different on SOL than they are on my laptop using LibreOffice.
I try to note down the errors on scratch paper, then PM the author. I do the some for my own writing.
A little trick for authors to catch their 'problem words' that are not caught by a spell checker:
Execute a specific edit round by searching for those specific words with an editor that highlights the search word. By concentrating on that specific word you will probably notice an error faster than when you just read a sentence with the word.
Some words will pop up in huge amounts (then/than, their/they're/there) but others will be a lot easier (preform/perform). Do it after each chapter and even the words that are used a lot won't give you a headache :)