This discussion leads me to wonder about the parsing of sentences like this:

       He spent a dollar more than she did.

1. Is "a dollar" the direct object of the verb "spent?
2. Or is "a dollar" a quantifying adverbial modifying "more"?

The following supply evidence for the second analysis:

     He spent little.
     He spent more than she did.
     He spent slightly more than she did.
     He spent a lot more than she did.
     He spent a dollar more than she did.

If so, is "spent" intransitive here, with "a dollar more than she did" an adverbial, or is "spent" transitive, with "more" as its object?

And how about Scott's sentence ("...he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has")? Is "more (of) nerve control" the object of "has," with "that ounce" being a quantifying adverbial? Some related sentences:

    She has more control than he has.
    She has more.
    She has a little more than he has.
    She has an ounce more than he has.

Any thoughts?

Dick

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Scott Woods [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 11:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: grammar question--more...than

Dear List,

How would you analyze more in the following sentence:

And while a man may feel like [screaming], he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has.

How would you explain its relationship to than?

Thanks,

Scott Woods

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