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She is taller than I/me.

Can either preposition be used?

Thanks.

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 774 • Replies: 35

[+3] - Frank Apisa - 09/06/2020[quote="maxdancona"] [quote] I am the grammarian about whom your mother warned you.[/quote] [/quote] Me tired of this. Youm can do what youm want...no matter how it slaughter the...

@tanguatlay,

"I"

Think of it as, "She is taller than I (am)."

(I and me are pronouns, not prepositions.)

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@tanguatlay,

tanguatlay wrote:

She is taller than I/me.

Can either preposition be used?

Thanks.

HIghtor is grammatically correct.

However... in common American usage people generally say "She is taller than me." People are saying it technically wrong, but that is the way we talk.

Someone who says "She is taller than I" sounds pretentious (at least around here).

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I just googled it... and my last post is incorrect.

According to several sources... "She is taller than me" is, in fact, grammatically correct. The word "than" can act as a preposition, meaning that an object pronoun is appropriate.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/than-what-follows-it-and-why

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

Well, that's good to know.

Apologies to tanguatlay and thanks to max.

I think I'll keep using the "I am" version, if that's okay.

1 Reply

@hightor,

hightor wrote:

Well, that's good to know.

Apologies to tanguatlay and thanks to max.

I think I'll keep using the "I am" version, if that's okay.

"She is taller than me" IS INCORRECT.

You are correct that "She is taller than I" should be used.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Quote:

"She is taller than me" IS INCORRECT.

You are disagreeing with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Frank. Nothing personal... but I trust the dictionary.

I think you are incorrect.

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@tanguatlay,

You can use either "I" or "me".

Dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster confirm this point.

"She is taller than I am" sounds better.

"Than" can be either a conjunction or a preposition in that sentence.

It only remains to be said that if you don't know, look it up.

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@tanguatlay,

I think it is a matter of regional dialect.

I am from the Boston area (northeastern United states). No one would say "she is taller than I"... it sounds awkward.

"She is taller than me." That is the way that people speak around here.

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@maxdancona,

Miss Tan Guat Lay's interest is in British English.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

I think it is a matter of regional dialect.

I am from the Boston area (northeastern United states). No one would say "she is taller than I"... it sounds awkward.

"She is taller than me." That is the way that people speak around here.

It is not a matter of regional dialect.

"Me" is incorrect. "I" is correct.

There are also people who say, "Me and Mary went to the movies last night."

The fact that people say that...does not make it correct.

"Me and Mary went to the..." and "She is taller than me"...are both ignorant uses of the language.

As Hightor suggested, finish the sentence. She is taller than me am?"

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@tanguatlay,

The Merriam Webster dictionary is for American English and unless you want to talk like an American you should avoid it.

The Oxford dictionary is English.

In England we would say She is taller than me, anythingelse sounds unnatural and pretentious.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank,

Why don't you spend a little time to read the actual facts, rather than making them up for yourself.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Language changes, once enough people start using a term it becomes the correct one.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Frank,

Why don't you spend a little time to read the actual facts, rather than making them up for yourself.

"The facts" are on my side, Max.

The grammatically correct form IS "She is taller than I am."

If you want to use, "She is taller than me am"...fine with me.

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@Frank Apisa,

Nobody will say that Frank.

I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re not in charge of the English language.

People will continue to say she is taller than me, (over here at least.)

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Nobody will say that Frank.

I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re not in charge of the English language.

People will continue to say she is taller than me, (over here at least.)

People will continue to say, "Her and me went to the movies yesterday" over here, Izzy.

There are ignorant people on both sides of the pond.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

You are inventing "the facts", Frank. Of course they are on your side.

Actual facts have sources and you learn actual facts by doing research using authoritative sources to understand the real history of the language.

There is solid academic support for the prepositional use of "than" (as in "She is taller than him"), including a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost.

John Milton in 1667 wrote:

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom,
Satan except, none higher sat, with grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd
A pillar of state...

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@Frank Apisa,

People don’t say her and me either.

1 Reply

I accept the argument that language changes. Since the prepositional use of the word "than" goes back at least 350 years.. I don't think that argument applies here.

When I was younger, I used to insist on using the word "data" as a plural... as in "The data show that crime is going down." (instead of shows). As I got older I realized that this was stupid. The language has changed, and "data" is now a singular (collective) noun. Occasionally I hear people using "data" as a plural on NPR, but it is always academics who want to show people who intelligent they are.

I wonder what Frank's agenda are.

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