I have been having a debate with some colleagues
regarding whether certain subordinating conjunctions,
namely "after" and "before", can allow ellipsis of the
predicate.  Here are some relevant examples:

(1) The tap dancers will perform after Jane and I.
(2) The tap dancers will perform after I.
(3) After I, the tap dancers will perform.

Several of my colleagues claim that these sentences
are grammatically correct according to formal,
standard English.  My intuition tells me that these
are impossible in any form of English.  Sentences 1-3
strike me as hypercorrect forms generalized from the
prescriptive rule that allows for the ellipsis of a
predicate, leaving a subjective pronoun, with "than"
and "as", as in the following:

(4) Marcia is much more intelligent than I.
(5) Claire is as enthusiastic as he.

In fact, sentences with "than" and "as" followed by
subjective pronouns are acceptable to me only in very
formal writing.

The only source I have found so far that discusses
cases like 1-3 is Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and
Svartvik. Basically, they say that the subjective
pronoun is unacceptable in sentences like "Nigel
finished the exam after/before I".  The function of
words that can be both prepositions and conjunctions
can be distinguished by what form their complements
take. In other words, the preposition "after" takes an
objective pronoun whereas the conjunction "after"
takes a subjective pronoun plus a form of "do" or the
main verb.  Variants of (2) would then be

(2a) The tap dancers will perform after me.

or

(2b) The tap dancers will perform after I do/perform.

Quirk et al. is, however, primarily a descriptive
grammar and doesn't hold the same weight for some
people as a prescriptive grammar does.  Can anyone
point me toward a prescriptive grammar that deals with
this issue?  What are your opinions of the sentences
above?  Do you readily accept or reject sentences 1-3?

I would appreciate any input ATEGers could give.

Thanks,

Kevin Lemoine, Editor


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