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Than vs Over - What's the difference?

than | over |

As a proper noun than

is the ninth earthly branch represented by the.

As an adverb over is

, above.

As a preposition over is

over.

than

English

(wikipedia than)

Conjunction

(English Conjunctions)
  • (obsolete, outside, dialects, usually used with for) Because; for.
  • * 1854 , Reformation series:
  • If thou say yes, then puttest thou on Christ (that is, the wisdome of God, the Father) unkunning, unpower, or euil will: for than he could not make his rule so good as an other did his.
  • * 1668 , William Lawson, A way to get wealth :
  • You shall also take the fine earth or mould which is found in the hollow of old Willow trees, rising from the root almost to the middle of the Tree, at least so far as the tree is hollow, for than this, there is no earth or mould finer or richer.
  • * 1665 , Stillingfleet, Laud, Carwell, A rational account of the grounds of Protestant religion :
  • Answer me if you can, any other way, than because the Scriptures, which are infallible, Say so.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than' his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal ' than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • introduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more'', ''less'', and ''fewer . Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two predicates.
  • Patients diagnosed more recently are probably surviving an average of longer than two years.

    Usage notes

    , who wrote ''No man had ever more discernment than him, in finding out the ridiculous.''). ''Than functions as both conjunction and preposition; when it is used as a conjunction, it governs the nominative case, and when a preposition, the oblique case. To determine the case of a pronoun following "than", a writer can look to implied words and determine how they would relate to the pronoun. Examples : * You are a better swimmer than she. ** represents You are a better swimmer than she is. ** therefore You are a better swimmer than her is a solecism. * They like you more than her. ** represents They like you more than they like her. ** therefore They like you more than she'' is a solecism, if it attempts to represent the previous sentence. It may be correct, however, if it represents ''They like you more than she likes you. Some prescriptionists insist that whom'' must follow ''than'' (not ''who''); although according to the above rule, ''who would be the "correct" form. Critics of this often cite this mandatory exception as evidence that the prescriptionist rule is logically erroneous, in addition to it being inconsistent with well-established usage.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (now, chiefly, dialectal) At that time; then.
  • Statistics

    *

    over

    English

    (wikipedia over)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Finished; ended or concluded.
  • The show is over .

    Derived terms

    *

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Thoroughly; completely; from beginning to end.
  • * 1661 , , The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
  • During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant
  • From an upright position to being horizontal.
  • Horizontally; left to right or right to left.
  • From one position or state to another.
  • Overnight (throughout the night).
  • Again; another time; once more; over again.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (cricket) A set of six legal balls bowled.
  • Any surplus amount of money, goods delivered, etc.
  • * 2008 , G. Puttick, Sandy van Esch, The Principles and Practice of Auditing (page 609)
  • ...standard cash count forms used to record the count and any overs or unders.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Physical positioning.
  • # On top of; above; higher than; further up.
  • #* (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)
  • Over them gleamed far off the crimson banners of morning.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,
  • # Across or spanning.
  • #* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Certain lakespoison birds which fly over them.
  • #* , chapter=3
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • # In such a way as to cover.
  • # From one physical position to another via an obstacle that must be traversed vertically, first upwards and then downwards.
  • By comparison.
  • # More than; to a greater degree.
  • # Beyond; past; exceeding; too much or too far.
  • # (label) As compared to.
  • (label) Divided by.
  • Finished with; done with; from one state to another via a hindrance that must be solved or defeated; or via a third state that represents a significant difference from the first two.
  • While]] using, (especially) while [[consume, consuming.
  • * 1990 , (Seymour Chatman), Coming to Terms , , ISBN 0801497361, page 100[http://books.google.com/books?id=loD1JXOtmTYC&pg=PA100&dq=relax]:
  • Six diners in business clothes—five attractive young women and a balding middle-aged man—relax over cigarettes.
  • * 1998 , Marian Swerdlow, Underground Woman , , ISBN 1566396107, page 88 [http://books.google.com/books?id=jIK3DGkOwYkC&pg=PA88&dq=croissants]:
  • Sunday had been my favorite day at Woodlawn. A long W.A.A. [="work as assigned" period], having coffee and croissants with Mark over the Sunday Times .
  • * 2009 , Sara Pennypacker, The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery , , ISBN 9780545207867, page 79:
  • Over meatloaf and mashed potatoes (being careful not to talk with his mouth full), Stanley told about his adventure.
  • Concerning or regarding.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}
  • Above, implying superiority after a contest; in spite of; notwithstanding.
  • Usage notes

    When used in the context of "from one location to another", over'' implies that the two places are at approximately the same height or the height difference is not relevant. For example, if two offices are on the same floor of a building, an office worker might say ''I'll bring that over''' for you'', while if the offices were on different floors, the sentence would likely be ''I'll bring that up [down] for you.'' However, distances are not constrained, e.g. ''He came '''over''' from England last year and now lives in Los Angeles'' or ''I moved the stapler '''over to the other side of my desk.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • In radio communications: end of sentence, ready to receive reply.
  • How do you receive? Over !

    References

    * Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "The semantic network for over''", in ''The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

    Statistics

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