better than me OR better than I?

[jeffq]

She can sing better than me.

or should it be:

She can sign better than I.

[Erin]

Originally posted by jeffq


She can sing better than me.

or should it be:

She can sign better than I.

I doubt this point would appear on the GMAT (I may move it later to the General English grammar group), but here goes.

Of course, traditional grammar says that

She can sign better than I (can sing).

is preferable to

She can sing better than me.

but there seems to be a veritable groundswell of support for the latter construction.

Personally, I use the latter ("then me") in my speech, but avoid it in writing. Of course, I tend to avoid the former ("than I") in my writing as well, as it sounds somewhat stilted to my ears.

Which do you prefer, Jeff??

[dkpbus]

Originally posted by jeffq

She can sing better than me.

or should it be:

She can sign better than I.

Hi Erin

I'd like to present my opinion about this.

Sentence She can sign better than I.

is elliptical one and complete sentence will be

She can sign better than I (can sing).

Same way we say

She loves him more than me.

and complete sentence would be

She loves him more than (she loves) me.

But in

She can sing better than me.

I don't find any fill up here. So this sentence is grammatically wrong.

DKP

[rajanireddy123]

DKP is right It sure is an elliptical statement. When you have sucha doubt try extending the sentence with the same verb that was used earlier in the sentence with reference to the subject. Your sentence does not sound right becasue when you extend it 'she sings better than me' cannot be extended to ...better than me can? Consider this He is taller than me or I . Extended it will read He is taller than me 'is' or personal pronoun 'am'. Both are incorrect. Try the sentence with I am.

[tsdvj]

I would like to add one thing to dkp's post which I just encountered in a web site and found interesting:

She loves him more than I.

She loves him more than me.

We can extend the first sentence to : She loves him more than I do.
in which case the meaning changes entirely.

[boliver]

Hi Erin - unfortunately "preferences" dont enter into the GMAT ..its either correct or incorrect... this sentence has to do with the use of objective or subjective pronouns and their use
example : he is taller than me WRONG
he is taller than I CORRECT
if in doubt invert the object and subject to see if it makes sense......
I am taller than he is
NOT ...me am taller than he is

ME tarzan you Jane ...