than [conjuction and preposition] joins two parts of a comparison: She earns more than I do. ·I would rather read a good book than watch tv. Grammar patterns 1. The city was much less caotic than I expected. 2. William is a bit older than me. 3. Pat seemed les talkative than usual. 4. I’d rather go to the movies than go bowling

than Collocations More than and less than are often followed by amounts: There were more than a million on the demonstration. Adjectives and participles that follow than include: normal, usual, average, expected and predicted: The rainfall was higher than average. Adverbs that follow than include: before, ever, then and now: The beach was more crowded than ever. different is often followed by than in AmE (where British prefer from): The response to the survey was different than expected. Other and rather can be followed by than: We didn’t have tim to see much, other than the main monuments.

than Set phrases More often than not = usually More often than not he’ll be wearing odd socks. Better late than never I’m sorry I’m late. ~better late than never!