Grammar Moses: Which word, then, shall I use: Then or than?

Patricia Browall of Prospect Heights writes: "My 22-year-old daughter consistently misuses the words 'then' and 'than.' I have tried, without success, to point her in the right direction. Can you help?"

Patricia, I'd be happy to help, but I'm afraid you're on your own when it comes to restoring your relationship with your daughter after outing her in a newspaper column.

Dear daughter: "Than" suggests a comparison; "then" suggests a point in time or a consequence.

Examples: "I guess Mom knows more than I do about word usage and spelling." (comparative)

"Mom told some newspaper schmo that I couldn't spell, then I read all about it in the newspaper." (point in time)

"Mom intimated that poor word choice makes me a bad daughter; then I 'forgot' to buy her a Mother's Day gift." (consequence)

I hope this clears things up for you. Now you and Mom should hug it out.

Two-word pileup

Gary Andersen of Rolling Meadows was watching TV the other morning and saw a horrible accident occur.

A local TV reporter on the scene of a car crash explained that the passengers had to be "extradited" from their car.

"It had to be a shock for those passengers when they were transferred to another jurisdiction rather than just being extricated from their vehicle," Gary wrote.

Spelling champ

"Thank you for including Rosemary Larson's comment regarding 'eggcorns' in your recent column," Rita Boserup of Glen Ellyn wrote. "I had not previously heard the term, so I learned something new after some minor research. The eggcorn that makes me cringe is 'chomping at the bit' vs. 'champing at the bit.' I own a horse, and he happily chomps on his apples and carrots but never his bit."

Eggcorn redux

To refresh your memory, an "eggcorn" is a word or phrase that results from a mishearing or misinterpretation of another, so that a portion of the original is substituted for a homonym or something close.

• Eggcorn = acorn

• Pass mustard = pass muster

• Tow the line = toe the line

For those of you who are not equine-inclined, "champing" is gnawing nervously on something, as on a horse's bit. One does not eat what one champs.

So, here is an imponderable: Does your teething grandchild "chomp" on your hand or "champ" at it?

I guess it depends on the grandchild and whether there are any cannibals in your lineage.

Mea culpa

Sometimes you can't win for trying to be sweet.

Our New Year's Day editorial talked about the promise of 2017 and our collective joy in covering first-baby-of-the-year stories.

Al McClellan of Bartlett noted an eensy problem with word choice when we wrote "The joy of the special notoriety (of being the first) may even erase some of the disappointment of ever-so-closely missing out on the tax advantages of a birth at the edge of the previous year."

"I used to think the word 'notorious' was something less than good," Al wrote. "Was I wrong?"

Alas, Al, you are correct.

"Celebrity" would have been a better word choice.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.