Teach English in Xuhe Zhen - Yancheng Shi

The word "then" occurs frequently in English speech and writing. It is broadly and frequently useful, but it can cause confusion if not employed well. "Then" can be used in the form of an adverb, adjective, noun, or conjunction to indicate time and/or sequence. As an adverb, it can be used to denote a specified time of an event, to establish a sequence of events, or to indicate an effect from a satisfied causal condition. As an adjective, it describes a noun as existing at a specified time. As a noun, its meaning is equivalent to "that time." Though "then" is not a pronoun, properly speaking, it is useful to think of it as a pronoun, in the sense that it does not stand alone -- its meaning is derived from the preceding context. Just as you might ask who 'he' is, you might also ask when 'then' is. The rule of thumb is that if you must ask, then the usage is poor. It should be noted that there are some idiomatic cases where "then" is used non-specifically, such as in the expression "now and then," which is synonymous with "sometimes" or "occasionally. The meaning of an idiomatic construction like this should not be allowed to influence the understanding of the meaning of its parts. Just as "now" refers to a specific time (present), "then" also refers to a specific time (past or future). So "then" is best used with temporal or logical specificity, but it does not necessarily need to be precise; it just needs to be contextually defined. An entire era of history can be referred to as "then" -- for example, "People didn't have light-bulbs in medieval times; they didn't even use electricity then." Now that we've established an understanding of "then," let's consider a difficulty that a Spanish-speaking English learner can have. A native Spanish-speaker learning English typically thinks in Spanish, then translates into English. This is natural, but it can lead to the problem of false equivalence. One example of this can be seen with the Spanish adverb "luego," which can mean "next," "later," "afterward," or "soon." "Luego" is often translated as "then," but the range of meaning is not quite the same in these two words. Let's use an example -- native Spanish-speaker Gloria is finishing a task at her job. Next, she will go home to shower and eat. After that, she will go to a show with her friends. She wants to communicate that she is currently still at work, and that she has plans to go out with her friends later. Here is what she thinks [Spanish]: "Yo estoy haciendo el inventario en mi trabajo. Luego [más tarde] iré a un show con mis amigos." Here is what she says [English]: "I'm doing the inventory at my job. Then i'll go to a show with my friends." Gloria's plan is to finish her job, then go home, and then go to meet her friends at the show. Her usage of the word "then" is not absolutely incorrect, but it is potentially misleading. She intends to communicate that she will go to a show after work, but without additional details, a likely interpretation here is that as soon as the she is done with the inventory, she will immediately go to the show with her friends. There are other word choices that would be better suited to what she intends to communicate. Words such as "later," or "afterward" would be more appropriate, because they are more ambiguous. They do both require a reference point in time ("afterward" requires an explicit preceding reference point, and "later" can be used in isolation as it can imply the present as the point of reference), but they both point simply to the future. Words such as "tonight," or "after [work/dinner/etc.]" would be more appropriate, because they are more clear. Let's look at another example with Gloria -- this time, she is texting with her English-speaking friend. Gloria has a new dress, and she wants to tell her friend about it. Here is what she thinks [Spanish]: "Tengo un vestido nuevo. Luego le tomaré una foto para ti." Here is what she says [English]: "I have a new dress. Then I will take a picture of it for you." It is immediately apparent that "then" is not the correct word choice. If it is supposed to be a logical usage, then it is a non sequitur, and it lacks proper form as well. If it is meant to establish a chronological sequence, then it lacks necessary preceding contextual data. "Then" in this case is dissociated from logical and temporal context, and therefore it is dissociated from its conventional usage. Using "then" in this way will sound strange to native English speakers. They may think that they somehow missed a piece of information, or in order to construct a sequence or complete a conditional phrase, they may infer a correlation to something that was previously said, though this is not what the non-native speaker intends to communicate. Again, a correct word choice here would be "later" instead of "then." Native Spanish-speakers should be mindful not to make an equivalence between "luego" and "then."