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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