Aubrey
Armadillo Pup
"There's nothing more badass than being yourself."
Posts: 2
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Post by Aubrey on May 29, 2011 22:45:45 GMT -5
Is it "I am taller than he" or "I am taller than him"? I've seen both used, and the latter sounds more correct to me, but I'm being told that the former is correct.
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rayyychul
Armadillo
On ne voit bien qu'avec le c?ur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
Posts: 159
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Post by rayyychul on May 29, 2011 23:17:21 GMT -5
The former is correct in formal usage. In English, the subject (in this case, it's a pronoun) always follows "than."
In this case, the sentence is a shortened form of "I am taller than he (is [tall])," which is why "I am taller than he" sounds a little funny.
That being said, in informal usage (heck, I'm sure most profs would accept it), "I am taller than him" is perfectly okay. Nobody needs to be grammatically correct 100% of the time!
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Aubrey
Armadillo Pup
"There's nothing more badass than being yourself."
Posts: 2
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Post by Aubrey on May 29, 2011 23:21:05 GMT -5
Oh. Okay. Thank you.  |
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rayyychul
Armadillo
On ne voit bien qu'avec le c?ur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
Posts: 159
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Post by rayyychul on May 29, 2011 23:33:06 GMT -5
Not a problem! Honestly, I wouldn't sweat it. The English language is ever-changing and "than him" (in my opinion) has become quite acceptable in most cases |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Dec 12, 2011 4:15:29 GMT -5
*been thinking on this awhile*
In the sentence given, wouldn't it be "him" by default? We need an object here, don't we? And "him" would serve as such, since it's in the objective case.
Though, in a comparative sentence such as this, I suppose it might make sense that the rules might change, though I am favouring the idea that "him," serving as the direct object, is correct.
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Dec 12, 2011 14:23:36 GMT -5
*been thinking on this awhile* In the sentence given, wouldn't it be "him" by default? We need an object here, don't we? And "him" would serve as such, since it's in the objective case. Though, in a comparative sentence such as this, I suppose it might make sense that the rules might change, though I am favouring the idea that "him," serving as the direct object, is correct. First of all, sentences don't require objects, direct or indirect -- they only need subjects and verbs in order to be complete, technically. ("I read" is a simple complete sentence with no object.) Second, comparative sentences should be imagined as two parallel statements -- " [[more/less X]] THAN [he is]" is the full structure of the sentence, with "I" and "he" being the compared subjects. Each is the subject of its own clause. Even if you drop the "is" at the end (as it's unnecessary), the pronoun would still be "he." |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Dec 12, 2011 15:32:40 GMT -5
First of all, sentences don't require objects, direct or indirect -- they only need subjects and verbs in order to be complete, technically. ("I read" is a simple complete sentence with no object.) ...Erm, duh. I'm not an idiot. The sentence given, though, feels like it needs a direct object due to the use of "than." You can easily say "I am taller," without need for anything else. But once you have "than" in there...then yes, you are starting to need something like a direct object, if not just something more. Second, comparative sentences should be imagined as two parallel statements -- " [[more/less X]] THAN [he is]" is the full structure of the sentence, with "I" and "he" being the compared subjects. Each is the subject of its own clause. Even if you drop the "is" at the end (as it's unnecessary), the pronoun would still be "he."Can't you simply drop the "he is tall" and replace it with "him" without incident? Mayhaps I'm confusing Italian comparatives with English. It seems appropriate, though, to have the ability to replace "he is tall" with "him" and have the sentence still be sound. |
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Dec 12, 2011 19:45:07 GMT -5
Second, comparative sentences should be imagined as two parallel statements -- " [[more/less X]] THAN [he is]" is the full structure of the sentence, with "I" and "he" being the compared subjects. Each is the subject of its own clause. Even if you drop the "is" at the end (as it's unnecessary), the pronoun would still be "he."Can't you simply drop the "he is tall" and replace it with "him" without incident? Mayhaps I'm confusing Italian comparatives with English. It seems appropriate, though, to have the ability to replace "he is tall" with "him" and have the sentence still be sound. Nope. Sorry. English doesn't work like that -- "him" is only for objects, and the pronoun in this case is a subject (even if we don't see the clause it's the subject of). |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Dec 12, 2011 19:48:36 GMT -5
Fucking Italian and Latin are fucking up my grammarness.
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Dec 12, 2011 19:53:28 GMT -5
Fucking Italian and Latin are fucking up my grammarness. That fucking peninsula fucks up languages like fuck. |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Dec 12, 2011 20:34:36 GMT -5
Fucking boot-shaped piece of land.
Also, seriously, the Greeks really should have burned Troy down to the ground and been done with it. Bastards ruin everything.
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