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- Pronouns
Neha Karve
Summary
Both I and me are grammatically correct in comparisons using than. “Than I” appears more often in formal contexts.
Example
- Acceptable: You are better than me.
Formal: You are better than I am.
The reason both I and me work is that the word than can be treated as either a preposition or a conjunction. As a preposition, it takes pronouns in the objective case (like me, her, and him). As a conjunction, than is followed by pronouns in the subjective case (like I, he, and she).
Example
- Than as preposition: Poco is taller than me.
Than as conjunction: Poco is taller than I am.
“Than me” works best in simple comparisons. “Than I” can help introduce a new clause with additional information.
Example
- Correct: Lulu is younger than me.
Correct: Lulu is younger than I was when I got my first job.
I vs. me
The pronoun I is used in the position of subject in a sentence. Other subject pronouns include she, he, they, and we.
Examples
- I like to fly.
subject (what or whom the sentence is about) = “I”
- She likes coffee.
- He has two left feet.
- We are on our own now.
- They are going to Mauritius tomorrow.
Me is an object pronoun: it serves as the object of a verb or a preposition. Other examples of object pronouns are her, him, them, and us.
Examples
- Anita called me this morning.
object of the verb called = “me”
- Are you talking about me?
object of the preposition about = “me”
- These flowers are for her.
- I told him you weren’t here.
- Have you replied to them yet?
Whether to use I or me depends upon the grammatical function the word must serve in a sentence: that of subject or object. In this article, we discuss whether “than I” or “than me” is correct—in other words, whether a subject or an object pronoun should be used with than.
Than: Preposition or conjunction?
The word than can act either as a preposition or as a conjunction. In both uses, it introduces the second element of a comparison.
Prepositions are words of relationship, like for, from, on, in, and about. As a preposition, the word than shows a relationship of comparison between two parts of a clause. Remember that the object of a preposition is an object pronoun like me, not a subject pronoun like I. Therefore, than as a preposition is followed by me rather than I.
Examples
- Lulu is funnier than me.
object of the preposition than = “me”
- I’m sure Rita can run faster than me.
When than is used as a conjunction, it connects two clauses. An object pronoun like me cannot serve as the subject of a clause. The subject pronoun I must be used instead.
Examples
- Lulu is a better comic than I ever was.
This sentence has two clauses—”Lulu is a better comic” and “I ever was”—joined using the conjunction than.
- Rita can run faster than I can.
This can be shortened to “Rita can run
faster than I.”
As you can see, both “than I” and “than me” are grammatically correct. Which pronoun to use with than simply depends on whether you want to use the word as a preposition or a conjunction.
Than I vs. than me
“Than I” and “than me” are both grammatically acceptable. When to use which depends on whether you want to treat the word than as a preposition or a conjunction. In a simple comparison, “than” can easily be used as a preposition, which is why “than me” sounds natural.
Examples
- Anita is smarter than me.
- Tumkin is taller than me.
- Rita is more adventurous than me.
But when you want to add another clause to the sentence, present more information, using than as a conjunction can be useful.
Examples
- Anita is smarter now at the age of seven than I am as an adult.
- Tumkin is taller than I am in six-inch heels.
- Rita is more adventurous than I ever want to be.
Another consideration is that of formality: than is often treated as a conjunction in formal usage, which is why I sounds more formal than me in a comparison.
Example
- Acceptable: Anita is more qualified than me.
Formal: Anita is more qualified than I am.
Note that when than is used as a conjunction, it connects two clauses. It is better style to complete the clause than to omit the verb and leave the subject pronoun hanging.
Example
- Poor: You clearly care about her more than I.
Better: You clearly care about her more than I do.
Note
Grammar and style authorities, like Merriam-Webster and the Chicago Manual of Style, agree that than can be used both as preposition and conjunction. Its use as a conjunction (“than I”) is seen more often in writing and edited prose than in speech, where it is usually treated as a preposition (“than me”).
Use than as a conjunction when you want to present new information, rather than in simple comparisons, where using than as a preposition suffices and sounds more natural. Consider the following examples.
Example
- Than as preposition: My sister was younger than me.
A simple comparison: “than me” works fine.
Than as conjunction: My sister was younger than I am now when she wrote this poem.The subordinate clause introduced by than presents additional information.
Also note that in formal usage, than is generally used as a conjunction.
Example
- Acceptable: Minerva is a better candidate than me.
Formal: Dr. Dash is a better candidate than I am.
Other subject and object pronouns are used similarly as I and me with than. When than is used as a preposition, it takes pronouns like him, her, us, and them as the object. When it is used as a conjunction, the clause that follows has pronouns like he, she, they, and we as its subject.
Examples
- Preposition: I am older than her.
Conjunction: I am older than she was when she wrote this book. - Preposition: I have earned more stars than him.
Conjunction: I have earned more stars than he has. - Preposition: We know less than them.
Conjunction: We know less than they do about dinosaurs. - Preposition: They are just luckier than us.
Conjunction: They are just luckier than we are.
Differences in meaning
Sometimes, whether you use a subject pronoun like I or an object pronoun like me with than can affect meaning.
Examples
- Meaning 1: She loves him more than I.Meaning 2: She loves him more than me.
or, She loves him
more than I love him.
or, She loves him
more than she loves me.
- Meaning 1: He has known her longer than I.Meaning 2: He has known her longer than me.
or, He has known her
longer than I have.
or, He has known her
longer than he has known me.
If using than as a preposition (“than me”) would cause confusion, use it as a conjunction instead (“than I”), writing out the complete comparative clause.
Examples
- Confusing: Poco trusts her more than me.
Clear: Poco trusts her more than I do.
Clear: Poco trusts her more than he trusts me. - Confusing: Nesbit likes video games more than me.
Clear: Nesbit likes video games more than I do.
Clear: Nesbit likes video games more than he likes me. - Confusing: You know her better than me.
Clear: You know her better than I do.
Clear: You know her better than you know me. - Confusing: You look more like her than me.
Clear: You look more like her than I do.
Clear: You look more like her than like me.
Examples from literature
Here are some examples from writing that show than used as a preposition: “than me.” Note how it sounds perfectly correct and natural.
Examples
I helped look after the Thomas children—there were four of them younger than me—and I can tell you they took a lot of looking after.
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
She was just eighteen, two years older than me, and by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville.
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)
When the leaders were older than me I could believe in their wisdom, I could believe they had transcended rage and malice and the need to be loved.
— Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye (1988)
Yes, Raymond; he’s two years older than me.
— Anne Tyler, Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020)
In contrast, in the following examples, than is used as a conjunction. Note how the writers complete the clause (“than I am,” “than I was”) rather than leaving it hanging at “than I.”
Examples
‘Maggie,’ she said, in a low voice, that had the solemnity of confession in it, ‘you are better than I am.’
— George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)
‘I don’t suppose you are any more surprised than I am myself,’ said Marilla.
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
I would live out my days surrounded by people nicer than I am.
— Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982)
She was a more charitable person than I was; I admired her in that, but I could not emulate her.
— Margaret Atwood, The Testaments (2019)
Apart from me, other object pronouns like him, her, them, and us are used with than as a preposition. Here are some examples from writing.
Examples
A stone is heavy and the sand is weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.
— Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)
We cannot bear to believe that there might be something more worthy of love than us, more worthy of worship.
— Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000)
And like I, subject pronouns like he, she, they, and we are used with than when it is a conjunction.
Examples
Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.
— Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2007)
One day they will open a paper or a Web page and read for themselves about the year—2050 or so, according to the prophets—when the time will run out. A year when they will be no older than we are now.
— Zadie Smith, “The Lazy River,” New Yorker (2017)
Other words of comparison
Words like as and like also cause confusion. Like than, they also function both as prepositions and conjunctions.
Just like than, as is treated as a conjunction more often in formal writing and as a preposition in general usage.
Examples
- Preposition: She is as old as me.
Object of the preposition as: “me”
Conjunction: When she wrote this book, she was as old as I am now.Subordinate clause introduced by than
- Preposition: We know as much as them.
Conjunction: We know as much as they ever will.
The word like is treated as a preposition in simple comparisons, but as a conjunction when additional information needs to be presented.
Examples
- Preposition: She looks like me.
Conjunction: She looks like I did when I wanted to get my own way. - Preposition: They are people like us.
Conjunction: They are excited like we were as children.
