That, Than, Then, and Them Typos

Old Eagle-Eye has been catching some itty-bitty typos lately:
“that” instead of “than”
“than” instead of “that”
“than” instead of “then”
“then” instead of “than”
“then” instead of “them”
“them” instead of “then”

You’ve got to be looking very carefully to catch these errors, because these four-letter words are nearly invisible (compared to other four-letter words). When you’re reading, your eye just seems to skip right over them and focus on more important things, such as nouns and verbs. You really have to train your eyes to focus on the little things if you’re going to be a good editor or proofreader.

Now, my husband will tell you that Eagle-Eye is not his preferred nickname for me (that would be Sweetmeat). You see, I’ve been wearing glasses every waking moment since kindergarten, way back in the Cretaceous. I used to have a pair of pink, sparkly cat glasses that came up to a point at the temples. There’s a picture of me missing two front teeth wearing those glasses – YIKES! Nearly half a century later, I now have graduated bifocals with large corrections for astigmatism. So if I can see these little typos, so can you. Keep an Eagle Eye out for then, er, I mean them.

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