Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Then
English answer:
The concrete was then added...
English term
Then
The raw materials were first mixed and then hydrated to obtain the concrete. The concrete was then added into the molds (10x20cm) and left to rest for 24 hours.
or
TThe raw materials were first mixed and then hydrated to obtain the concrete, then the concrete was added into the molds (10x20cm) and left to rest for 24 hours.
Should i use the comma?
Non-PRO (1): Yvonne Gallagher
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Responses
France
Wine, literature, tourism
Native in: English (Variants: British, Irish)
Works in: French to English, English
The concrete was then added...
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
[my suggestion]
You can just about get away with saying "then" twice, but you can't say "...the concrete. The concrete..."
Also, if you list a sequence of procedures, they take place one after the other by definition, so you don't have to say "first...then...then".
I suggest:
The raw materials were mixed and hydrated to obtain the concrete. This was then placed in 10- by 20-cm moulds and left to rest for 24 hours.
| neutral |
Jennifer Levey
: For those of us with a lisp (or a hangover - I'll not say which - if either - I suffer from...) "this was then" can be a bit of a mouthful. And "left to rest" is somewhat tautological; try: "left to set" (since that's what concrete does in the mould).
49 mins
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Lisp? Hangover? Are you serious?
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Chile
Human-scale Globalization
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 2 more.
reword the entire sentence
The raw materials were (delete 'first') mixed and (delete 'then') hydrated to obtain (*delete 'the' *) concrete (reword everything from here to the end) which was left to set for 24 hours after being poured into the mo(u)lds (10x20cm).
-->
The raw materials were mixed and hydrated to obtain concrete which was left to set for 24 hours after being poured into the mo(u)lds (10x20cm).
| agree |
B D Finch
: I suggest a comma after "concrete". I also find "to obtain" a rather odd choice of verb.
12 hrs
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Thanks. I agree about "obtain" - but if I'd changed that as well there wouldn't be much left of Asker's own versions. And yes, a comma does no harm (as in this sentence, too).
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: I would like to keep the sequence of events and avoid the awkward 'after being':...to obtain concrete. This (or The concrete) was poured into the moulds and left to set for 24 hours.
16 hrs
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