[selven]

One grammar question that I don't know the answer to. When you have a statement using "than" (eg. A cow is bigger than an ant) using pronouns, what case is the word after "than" supposed to go into.

Is it always: I am bigger than him. I see him better than her. He does it better than me.

Or is it: I am bigger than he. I see him better than her He does it better than I

The first one is way more common colloquially, but I see the second one used in some formal styles. And it makes more sense too - it resolves the ambiguity between "I see him better than her" [I see him better than she does] and "I see him better than her" [he is more visible to me than she is].

[parenthesis]

I think the latter is `correct' because it is:

I am bigger than he [is].

I see him better than she [does].

I see him better than [I see] her.

He does it better than I [do].

[teilo]

The word "than" is not a preposition. It is a conjunction after which a verb and sometimes a subject are commonly omitted, but understood, because they are the same verb or subject as in the preceding sentence.

Therefore all you really need to do is understand that the portion of the sentence following "than" is itself a sentence. Just supply the missing words, and the correct case will shine forth.

"I run faster than he."

is really:

"I run faster than he runs."

and not:

"I run faster than him runs."

Therefore "he" is correct.

[elblanco]

In language, the "correct" case is the more common case for a given variant of the language. The class "English" is composed of the aggregate sum of many variants of the class (dialects, accents, etc.).

Languages change, what was "correct" a century ago may no longer be correct today.

This means the writer has to understand the variant of the language the reader is using, and target that. If your target audience prefers one over the other, that's the "correct" one.

There is no such animal as "correct English" since the definition of "correct English" is set merely by the most culturally powerful subgroup of users of some variant of the language.

[xiaoma]

It depends on what you mean. Take this example:

I like video games more than my girlfriend.

A) I like video games more than she does. == I like video games more than she likes them.

B) I like video games more than her. == I like video games more than I like her.

[psygnisfive]

Pay no mind to the people who commented before me.

The phrase that follows the comparative preposition "than" is not necessarily a reduced clause. It's actually almost always a simple noun phrase, taking the default accusative case.

"I am taller than him" is Standard American. If you were to say "I am taller than he" you'll sound like a twat.

Doesn't make sense? So what. Language isn't about making sense, it's about getting points across. There's plenty more in English that's even more confusing (exceptional case marking? oh yeah, baby, figure that one out).

Hell, even if it WERE a reduced relative clause there are plausible reasons why it could still be "him", namely, "nominative" and "accusative" are structural case, not semantic case, so they get assigned depending on the assignee's position in the sentence structure, and you could easily reduce a clause and, in doing so, put its subject into precisely the structure necessary for accusative case.

[kelnos]

As an alternative to poor grammar and sounding like a twat, one might simply say, "I am taller than he is." Sure, it's an extra word, but it's both correct and sounds natural.

I struggle with that occasionally. Using "him" in that sentence would make me die a little inside, but I also don't want to sound like a prick.

[psygnisfive]

Speaking of comparatives, a fellow grad student here at the University of Maryland is working on a phenomena called the comparative illusion, which involve sentences like the following:

More people have been to Russia than I have.

Think about that one for a bit. LL did a post on it, btw: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000860.h...