I appologize for my inappropriate response the question about the comparative, which I took to be about ellipsis. I like to present the "-er + than" construction to my (ESL) students in connection with other similar constructions.
The first is with certain adjectives: "different + than" and "additional + than." In the case of "different" we have the option of using "from" when we desire the preposition. In the case of "additional" the option is to use the preposition "to". The possiblity of these complements tends to make us want to see the "than" of "-er + than" as a preposition.
The second parallel that can help in understanding the structure is the set of adverbs whose normal complements are clauses or reduced clauses: "so + that", "too + for-to" and "enough + for-to." The complement clauses then tend to be make us want to see the same structure with "-er + than".
Let me also share the following notion about the comparative ending. Notice that "rather", "another", and "other" share the above duality of analysis, even though there are no corresponding positive forms for them. In this way they seem to be partaking of the adjective+complement structure. This could also be said for "more" except that we may take its positive as "much" or "many". Similarly "less" can be construed to have a positive in (an elided) "much" or "many" which it modifies. This again opens the question of using ellipsis to understand the structures.
3) She tried less to get her shoes on than her stepsister (did). [comparative adverb to the adverb of degree "much"]
And we have a good example of why there is this tendency. For a lot of
grammar teaching purposes I would treat the sentence as Phil has, but
for some purposes, including some pedagogical, I also want to be able to
explain that the "more ... than" dependency isn't just a fact about
particular words but follows from deeper syntactic and semantic
principles.
I think this speaks to part of what we as a group are trying to provide:
a view of language that allows us to provide explanations that are
appropriate to need and to audience.
Herb
Subject: Re: conjunction or preposition
I think there is a tendency to overthink these things in this group.
You can say
More pickup trucks are sold
and you see that "more" is an adjective
The addition is of "than sedan" is a very ordinary addition of a
prepositional phrase.
you cannot say
Pi!
ckup
trucks than sedands are sold
which tells you that there is a dependent relation between "than" and
either "-er" and "more" or "less". This dependency is what strikes
people as strange and is the only thing that is abberrant in the
sentence.
Phil Bralich
-----Original Message-----
>From: "Paul T. Wilson" <
[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Apr 25, 2006 8:43 AM
>To:
[log in to unmask]>Subject: Re: conjunction or preposition
>
>Though it's idiosyncratic, it seems to me that the concept of
>coordinating conjunctions might explain this more elegantly.
>
>Both pickup trucks and sedans are sold in some areas of California.
>
>Either pickup trucks or sedans are sold in some areas of California.
>
>I understand that
>
>(a) *more* can be adj., adv., or noun and *than* is typically a
>conjunction or preposition,
and
>
>(b) "more . . . than" specifies a difference in quantity that "both .
.
>. and" and "either . . . or" do not.
>
>However, together, "more . . . than" seems to function the same way as
>the coordinating conjunctions.
>
>So I posit that *than* promotes *more* - functionally - to the status
of
>a conjunction.
>
>
>Jeanne Rodgers wrote:
>> How is "than" functioning in the following sentence, as a
subordinating conjunction introducing an unconventionally placed
ellipitical clause or as a preposition?
>>
>> More pickup trucks than sedans are sold in some areas of California.
>>
>> Jeanne Rodgers
>> CSU, Sacramento
>>
>
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