For

The word for is generally used as a preposition, but its use as a coordinating conjunction is also common.
Satyam thought he had a good chance to get the job, for his father was on the companys board of
trustees.
As far as possible do not begin a sentence with for. For has serious sequential implications hence, you will
have to look carefully at the sentences beginning with for. In this respect, it is different form the use of
because and since at the beginning of sentences.
So
Be careful of the conjunction so. Sometimes, it can connect two independent clauses along with a comma,
but sometimes it cant. For instance, in this sentence,
Kareena is not the only actor in her family, so are her brother, sister, and her Uncle Kapoor.
where the word so means as well or in addition. However, a semicolon between the two independent
clauses would be smoother.
In the following sentence, where so is acting like therefore, the conjunction and the comma are adequate:
Ashish has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is no surprise that he avoids crowds.
Than
Than is not a coordinating conjunction.
Than is a conjunction used to make comparisons. The use of than as a preposition is best avoided in
competitive examinations. (Merriam Websters Dictionary provides explanation for this use.)
Incorrect: Hes taller and somewhat more handsome than me.
Correct: Hes taller and somewhat more handsome than I [am handsome]
Than as a conjunction is used to join two clauses as in the above correct sentence. If we accept its use a
preposition first sentence also becomes right.
[Read what Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary has to say than preposition: in comparison with
you are older than me usage. After about 200 years of innocent if occasional use, the preposition than was
called into question by 18th century grammarians. Some 200 years of elaborate and sometimes tortuous
reasoning have led to these present-day inconsistent conclusions: [than whom is standard but clumsy
Beelzebub than whom, Satan except, none higher sat John Milton T. S. Eliot, than whom nobody
could have been more insularly English Anthony Burgess; than me may be acceptable in speech a man
no mightier than thyself or me Shakespeare why should a man be better than me because hes richer
than me William Faulkner, in a talk to students; than followed by a third-person objective pronoun (her,
him, them) is usually frowned upon. Surveyed opinion tends to agree with these conclusions. Our evidence
shows that the conjunction is more common than the preposition, that than whom is chiefly limited to
writing, and that me is more common after the preposition than the third-person objective pronouns. You
have the same choice Shakespeare had: you can use than either as a conjunction or as a preposition.]
Then
Then is not a coordinating conjunction.
Many students think that then is used in the same way as but or and.
Incorrect: He lectured for two hours, then he turned his attention to the homework.

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