The Answer

Which is correct?

I would rather eat persimmons then pears.

or

I would rather eat persimmons than pears.

I don’t understand when or why the word “than” dropped out of sight and so many people started using  “then” in it’s place. I see this mistake everywhere. I don’t profess to have perfect grammar, but this common mistake makes me crazy.

Here are the definitions of then and than that I found online at the Cambridge dictionary:

then- (at) that time (in the past or in the future) “I was working in the city then.”

also Next or after that “Let me finish this job, then we’ll go.”

also In addition “This is the standard model, then there’s the deluxe version which costs more.”

OR

than-used to join two parts of a comparison “My son is a lot taller than my daughter.” “You always walk faster than I do!” “You’re earlier than usual”

also used with ‘more’ or ‘less’ to compare numbers or amounts “I spent more than I intended to.” “It cost less than I expected.”

The correct answer is….

I would rather eat persimmons THAN pears.

P.S. I really do prefer persimmons over pears! YUM!