Hi guys!!!
In these sentences:
"I'm taller than he"
"I'm taller than he is"
"I'm taller than him."
1) Are all of them gramatically correct?
2) Is any of them more formal than the others?
3) Which one is more used in spoken English?
I will appareciate your valuable answers.
Thanks
In these sentences:
"I'm taller than he"
"I'm taller than he is"
"I'm taller than him."
1) Are all of them gramatically correct?
2) Is any of them more formal than the others?
3) Which one is more used in spoken English?
I will appareciate your valuable answers.
Thanks
1 2
Comments
"taller than he"
(quotation marks are important)
at this site (upper right corner search box)
and you will find lots of threads such as:
http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/TallerTaller/bqjzj/Post.htm
http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/SomeoneAndMe/hlxm/Post.htm
The traditional/formal view is taller than he
as described in Garner, Modern American Usage, at than.
However, Garner points out that Partridge or Safire were for than him.
Still a big fight.
One day while i looked up the dictionary for another word, i found than he is as it happens. The dictionary (Longman Active Study, from english to english) says than he is. If you ask me than he is more formal than than him.
But don't forget that you also should consider which is spoken more in daily.
I do use the nominative case when I THINK about it (which is why I'm a grammar geek) but in casual spoken English, I'll use "than me," as do most people.
If you were assessing the relative height of two women, for instance, for some mysterious purpose of your own, you might point at each in turn and say:
1. She's taller than her.
but it might strike onlookers as odd if you said:
2. She's taller than she.
MrP
That's because in formal English, "than" is regarded as a conjunction and not a preposition, so the following pronoun is in the nominative case – "he," not "him."
Just like many people don't use the past perfect tense when they should. It's common because most people don't know the rule and don't recognize the mistake when they hear it.