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Which of the following constructions is / are correct?

  • He is better than I.
  • He is better than I am.

PS: I'm unfamiliar with this site and its workings, so forgive me if my question fails to follow the community guidelines. If there are any improvements I can make to the question, please do point them out.

JSBձոգչ
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Vicky Chijwani
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    Thanks for your question. It is a fine question; one that meets with community guidelines. However, an equivalent question has already been asked. If the answers to http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3447 don't fully answer your question, please feel free to update your question to explain what's still confusing. – nohat Aug 31 '12 at 03:54
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    Yes, I've seen that question. I notice that the my question has been asked by the OP in the third point, but as far as I can see, it has not been addressed directly. – Vicky Chijwani Aug 31 '12 at 04:03
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    @nohat: I'm not completely convinced. That one is mostly about he/him, but OP here isn't asking about me/I. The matter of "...than he can" was barely mentioned. – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 04:05
  • I see. Can you explain why you would think that only one of them could be correct? – nohat Aug 31 '12 at 04:05
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    I think most people would say omitting the "am" here is just a bit formal or stilted. We usually do include it. (or, we say "He is better than me" anyway! :) – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 04:07
  • @nohat I've been using both forms, so I thought there's a chance one of them violates the rules of grammar. No other reason. – Vicky Chijwani Aug 31 '12 at 04:11
  • @Vicky Chijwani: In most contexts, it would be more natural to use "than me". But you should probably forget about plain "than I" - it's never necessary, and would often sound awkward/stilted. – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 04:16
  • ...nohat notwithstanding, I think this is a good question about a fine point of idiomatic usage, only loosely related to the he/him, I/me distinction. – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 04:19
  • @FumbleFingers: I disagree about than I; I myself prefer it, and it certainly is necessary in precise and formal contexts. But you are certainly right that this is a good question, perhaps better than OP realizes. – Tim Lymington Aug 31 '12 at 11:20
  • @TimLymington: I'm surprised you prefer the elided form. Per David Wallace's comment below, perhaps you know better than I, but that doesn't sound very natural to me. I don't think it makes than much difference if the elided verb is am, do, can, or whatever - I think it still sounds pretty "starchy" if you omit it. – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 11:43
  • @FumbleFingers: I myself think a simple comparison doesn't require a verb, so it isn't an elision at all. And certainly it sounds starchy (or 'proper English' as some would say; can we compromise on formal?) but that is not 'never necessary'. – Tim Lymington Aug 31 '12 at 12:12
  • @TimLymington:: Surely. I did say omitting the verb is "just a bit* formal or stilted", and at the time I was specifically addressing OP. I have no problem using the form myself, in the right context* - I just thought if OP's not a native speaker he might appreciate a simple "safe" rule. Turns out he just wondered if dropping the verb was somehow "ungrammatical" (which was addressed by the possible duplicate answers anyway), but I thought this question could stand independently largely because of that formal/informal issue. – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 14:03

2 Answers2

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They are both grammatical, the first being a truncated form of the second. In both, than functions as a conjunction. However, He is better than I sounds hopelessly formal, at least in British English. The usual form is the equally grammatical He is better than me, where than functions as a preposition. When a preposition is followed by a pronoun, the pronoun is in the accusative case.

Barrie England
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  • This is one case where prescriptive language mavens still seem to rule the roost. Google Books "works harder than I":5050 results, "works harder than me":279 results. But if I try to page through them, there are actually only 44 and 42 results respectively, and many of those 44 are in fact grammarians setting out their idea of "correct" usage. – FumbleFingers Sep 04 '12 at 14:38
  • @FumbleFingers: And you might expect the more formal construction in books than in speech. – Barrie England Sep 04 '12 at 15:49
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    Precisely. I'm solidly behind your "He is better than I* sounds hopelessly formal". I think those prescriptivists who say that's the "correct" form are the same ones whose injunction against splitting infinitives it's my mission to boldly take* issue with. – FumbleFingers Sep 04 '12 at 16:13
  • @FumbleFingers Descriptivism is no excuse for sloppy grammar! ;-) – Pitarou Sep 05 '12 at 04:34
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    @Pitarou: 'Sloppy grammar' usually means constructions that the speaker or writer doesn't like. – Barrie England Sep 05 '12 at 06:03
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"He is better than I" is not the correct way of saying it.. neither would "He is better than I am" sound correct. It would actually be "He is better than me".

Apoorva
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    "better than I" may sound stilted, but I don't think it's incorrect. – Lynn Aug 31 '12 at 05:21
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    Many millions of native speakers of English would disagree with this answer. Some of them may even know better than I. –  Aug 31 '12 at 05:30
  • But somehow we use "Me" in such sentence that saying "I" doesn't sound right.. May be I am wrong!! – Apoorva Aug 31 '12 at 05:49
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    @Apoorva, David Wallace: I think as Barrie says, the "bare" form "You know better than I" is rather stilted/formal, so I'd go for "me" there. But here's the evidence that with longer forms such as "[You] know better than I how* [to deal with this problem]", we don't use "me"* very often at all (though usage is on the increase). – FumbleFingers Aug 31 '12 at 17:34
  • @FumbleFingers: I think that's because in longer forms, it's clear that this has to be a case of ellipsis. – Peter Shor Sep 04 '12 at 13:20
  • @Peter Shor: I assume we all accept that whenever plain "than I" occurs in such constructions, it's because the following verb has been dropped by ellipsis. I can't see how to interpret you comment as meaning anything other than "That's because in longer forms we prefer* to use ellipsis"*. The question is - "why?". – FumbleFingers Sep 04 '12 at 14:25