Bill,



I wonder whether this whole set up is some conspiracy by grammarians who need everything to be logical.  I suspect that it was historically always objective, but it is possible to set some of these comparative forms in a position where logic requires them to take a subject form:



     John rather than I gave Mary second looks.

     Anyone other than I gave her second looks.



The first form is from a disused adverb "rath" and the second structures parallel to "else."  Maybe Herb can shed some light on the history of these comparatives.  Your first examples use the comparative of "many" (or "much") which appears before a noun.  This position can also be taken by "other" but its complement in the subjective is awkward, and its proleptic clausal form doesn't help.



     ?John talked to another woman than I [talked to].

     ? John talked to another woman than [he talked to] me.



Bruce



>>> "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> 04/10/08 3:21 PM >>>



 

Someone asked me today whether one should use “I” or “me” after “other than.” Now, I know the standard answer for when you have just “than” – fill in the words that you think are elided to get the right pronoun:

 

                John gave Mary more books than I [gave Mary].

                John gave Mary more books than [he gave] me.

 

But…I can’t make ellipsis work with “other than”:

 

                *Don’t talk to anyone other than [you talk to] me.

 

If I used “but” instead of “other than,” I’d class that “but” as a preposition – it seems to be introducing a noun phrase, not a clause with elliptical bits -- so that’s the route I went with “other than.”  Does that seem reasonable? Garner’s dictionary of usage had nothing on that particular point.

 

Thanks in advance – 

 

Bill Spruiell

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