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To: mlc9852

It's the object, therefore it is "him." If it were a subject, it would be "he."


134 posted on 11/18/2005 11:42:31 AM PST by Junior (From now on, I'll stick to science, and leave the hunting alien mutants to the experts!)
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To: Junior; mlc9852
It's the object, therefore it is "him." If it were a subject, it would be "he."

Sorry, Junior, but mlc9852 is correct. It's the subject of an implied verb "is", as in "better than he is".

219 posted on 11/19/2005 6:00:08 AM PST by Physicist
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To: Junior; mlc9852
Found it. This from Fowler:

In You treat her worse than I treat her, t. is a strong or subordinating conjunction, attaching an adverbial clause to its owner worse. In You treat her worse than I, the same account may be given with the explanation that there is an ellipsis of treat her; or t. may be called a weak or coordinating conjunction linking the two similarly constructed nouns you & I. In You treat her worse than me, the same two names for t. are possible, but the ellipsis is of you treat (not treat her), or the similarly constructed nouns her & me (not you & me); those are the possibilities if the sentence is said with the only sense that an educated person gives it. But an uneducated person may mean by it You treat her worse than I treat her; &, if it is to be so taken, t. is not a conjunction of either kind, but a preposition governing me. Doubts whether a word is a presposition or a conjunction or both are not unknown...It is obvious, however, that recognition of t. as a preposition makes some sentences ambiguous that could otherwise have only one meaning, & is to that extent undesirable.

Boldface added by me.

220 posted on 11/19/2005 6:19:19 AM PST by Physicist
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To: Junior; mlc9852

You are both correct in a sense. English can be analyzed as having "subject" and "object" pronouns, "he" and "him" in this case. Another analysis is that English tends to have "before the verb" and "after the verb" pronouns rather than functional ones. The first analysis implies "he"; then second "him."

Other writers have suggested that "than" in the original sentence functions as a preposition giving the prepositional phrase "than him" rather than an elided clause wherein "than" is a conjuction.

Another example: "Who's that knocking at my door?" "It's I" vs "It's me." "Me" does the work of the French "moi" here.


331 posted on 11/19/2005 9:08:07 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch ist der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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