Re: Question: difference between "therefore", "hence", and "thus"

"Wolfram Sieber" <worisi2005@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43475d2b$0$16477$9b4e6d93@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Nick Wagg wrote:
> > "Wolfram Sieber" <worisi2005@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> > news:4345f778$0$26222$9b4e6d93@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>Since a while I've been wondering what the difference between
> >>"therefore", "hence", and "thus" is. Can anybody explain it to be, and
> >>point out some examples how to use them appropriately?
> >
> > They are all roughly synonymous with "so", which would be the
> > most colloquial of the terms. "Therefore" is also in common use
> > but "hence" sounds more appropriate to a scientific argument
> > and "thus" sounds rather old-fashioned.
>
> Thanks for the explanation. :)
>
> I'd assume, that "thus" is related to reasoning, while neither "hence"
> nor "therefore" is.

They are all used in reasoning. "Hence" literally means "from here"
(just as "whence" means "from where").

> Do "therefore" and "hence" relate to time/a point of
> view somewhere in time? I'd think, that "therefore" were used well in a
> situation someone is making a decision - "I considered this and that,
> therefore I choose that" - while "hence" would be used from a later
> point of view: "I considered this and that, hence I chose that".
>
> Or is that differentiation for "hence" vs "therefore" invalid?

As a native English speaker, I am not aware of any difference in time
or tense in their usage, but I could be wrong. In the example you cite,
they seem interchangeable to me.



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