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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