Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Preposition vs conjunction

"My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [I]".
I suppose the "complete form" is
"My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [I am]".
But I see that "than" can also be a preposition. I would like to know 
whether or not I can say
"My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [me]".
Kiuhnm

 "My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [me]".
Lo si dice tranquillamente. E' anche piů molto piů comune nell'inglese 
moderno, AFAIK.
Tschüss,
Enrico il Pentolaio.
--
"E ora ridateci la Gioconda!"
My still-in-construction website: 
www.pentolaio.tk
 

 moderno, AFAIK.
Questo mi ricorda "like" ed "as". Però ricordo che "as me", sebbene 
diffuso, è errato perché "as" è sempre una congiunzione e quindi deve 
essere seguito da una proposizione, non da un semplice accusativo.
Però "than" è sia congiunzione che preposizione quindi "than me" 
potrebbe essere corretto a tutti gli effetti.
Kiuhnm

 "My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [I am]".
That's the form I like best.
Anyway, here is what I gather to be the state of the art on this 
controversial topic...
QUOTE
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/t.html
Than I versus Than Me. 
Than, as used in comparatives, has traditionally been considered a 
conjunction; as such, if you're comparing subjects, the pronouns after 
than should take the "subjective case." In other words, "He's taller than 
I," not "He's taller than me"; "She's smarter than he," not "She's 
smarter than him." If, on the other hand, you're comparing direct or 
indirect objects, the pronouns should be objective: "I've never worked 
with a more difficult client than him."
There are some advantages to this traditional state of affairs. If you 
observe this distinction, you can be more precise in some comparisons. 
Consider these two sentences:
He has more friends than I. (His total number of friends is higher than 
my total number of friends.) 
He has more friends than me. (I'm not his only friend; he has others.) 
The problem, though, is that in all but the most formal contexts, "than 
I" sounds stuffy, even unidiomatic. Most people, in most contexts, treat 
than as a preposition, and put all following pronouns in the objective 
case, whether the things being compared are subjects or objects. "He's 
taller than me" sounds more natural to most native English speakers.
This isn't a recent development: people have been treating than as a 
preposition for centuries. Consider the following from big-name English 
and American writers:
Matthew Prior, Better Answer: "For thou art a girl as much brighter than 
her,/ As he was a poet sublimer than me." 
Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, 1.10.58, "I am fitter for this world than 
you, you for the next than me." 
Lord Byron's letter of 2 November 1804, "Lord Delawarr is considerably 
younger than me." 
Robert Southey, Well of St. Keyne, 51: "She had been wiser than me,/ For 
she took a bottle to Church." 
William Faulkner's Reivers, 4.82: "Let Lucius get out . . . He's younger 
than me and stouter too for his size." 
So what should you do? I don't have a good answer, other than the most 
general advice possible: try to size up your audience, and figure out 
whether they're likely to be happier with the traditional or the familiar 
usage. 
UNQUOTE
-- 
Enrico C
=======================================
http://www.lillathedog.net/icling/dizionari_inglese.html

 UNQUOTE
Insomma niente di risolutivo.
Kiuhnm

 "My girlfriend is better at picking movies than [me]".
As others have said, it is substandard usage but common in informal 
situations. I did, however, want to add a comment about why it's 
substandard. Usage is often considered substandard when the clarity of 
communication suffers. In the instance of your example, the literal meaning 
is that your girlfriend is better at picking movies than she is at picking 
you. I hope you weren't trying to say that you ain't worth the price of 
admission! 

 Insomma niente di risolutivo.
Diffida sempre delle rispostine risolutive della 
serie "giusto", "sbagliato". Una lingua è un work in progress, con diversi 
punti di vista.  :)


 admission! 
Then you admit both (the?) forms, don't you (nom vs nom, acc vs acc)?
But is the second form acceptable if used with that second meaning?
Kiuhnm



'Admit' isn't the appropriate word to use. The connotation tends more toward 
the 'confessing to a point in an argument rather than of 'allowing entry 
into one's speech'. Do I permit both forms? Not really. I don't use "than 
me" in place of "than I am" except when cognitively impaired. However, I 
wouldn't criticize anyone else for using it in speech because it is so 
common and almost always the meaning is clear from context.
Regarding the acceptability of the second meaning, I'm not sure which one is
second. The meaning would be clear if you used 'a man' instead of 'me' and
said "your girlfriend is better at picking movies than some man". That would
mean that she exercises better judgment when choosing a film than she does
when choosing a man. If you say "...picking movies than me" then, from the
context and from what makes sense, most people would know you meant "than I
am."
My suggestion is that you just use "than I am" since you're learning a
language and you probably want to sound literate. But you should be able to
understand when someone else uses substandard sentence structure.

 understand when someone else uses substandard sentence structure.
Ok, thanks for the explanation.
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message 
news:44c883a9$0$15877$4faf...@reader2.news.tin.it...

'My girlfriend likes Brad Pitt more than I/ me .' Two different meanings - 
both equally likely !
Mike 

 both equally likely !
Depends on who is saying it! ;)
