Jun 9, 2005

than me or than I?

The answer: depends on the context.

"Than me" is okay when the pronoun acts as an object. If you love Sudoku more than me, that means you love Sudoku more than you love me (which, for most of you, is probably true).

But if you love Sudoku more than I, your love for Sudoku is greater than my love for Sudoku (which is unlikely).

Practice: She is smarter than ____.

Answer: "I," because the sentence is short for "She is smarter than I am."

Practice: You hate her much more than _____, which explains why I wasn't targeted by your email virus.

Answer: "me," because you hate her more than you hate me. You petty, slinking weasel.

Got it?

Good.




[twenty-first in a series]

4 comments:

Mark said...

Actually, from the "Court Jester", isn't it supposed to go:
"Get it"
"Got it"
"Good"
(and the exchange is supposed to be head-spiningly fast for comic effect).

Jim Anderson said...

Anyone who quotes "The Court Jester" is okay by me.

Anonymous said...

hey great explanation... now i understood the difference between them....Thanks

Sathya said...

Nice explanation. In that case, I hope below sentence will also be correct.

You hate her much more than I, which explains why you send more spam mails to her than I do