pronouns - "He is better than _____." (1) I (2) I am?


Which of the following constructions is / are correct?



  • He is better than I.

  • He is better than I am.


PS: I'm unfamiliar with this site and its workings, so forgive me if my question fails to follow the community guidelines. If there are any improvements I can make to the question, please do point them out.



Answer



They are both grammatical, the first being a truncated form of the second. In both, than functions as a conjunction. However, He is better than I sounds hopelessly formal, at least in British English. The usual form is the equally grammatical He is better than me, where than functions as a preposition. When a preposition is followed by a pronoun, the pronoun is in the accusative case.


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