end of spring in South Florida.
(Can you find the error in that sentence?)
NOT: Bob and me travel a good deal.
(Would you say, "me travel"?)
NOT: He gave the flowers to Jane and I.
(Would you say, "he gave the flowers to I"?)
NOT: Us men like the coach.
(Would you say, "us like the coach"?)
2. In comparisons. Comparisons usually follow than or as:
He is taller than I (am tall).
This helps you as much as (it helps) me.
She is as noisy as I (am).
Comparisons are really shorthand sentences which usually omit words,
such as those in the parentheses in the sentences above. If you complete
the comparison in your head, you can choose the correct case for the
pronoun.
NOT: He is taller than me.
(Would you say, "than me am tall"?)
3. In formal and semiformal writing:
Use the subjective form after a form of the verb to be.
FORMAL: It is I.
INFORMAL: It is me.
Use whom in the objective case.
FORMAL: To whom am I talking?
INFORMAL: Who am I talking to?
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_proncase.html
================
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/t.html
... explanation
Than I versus Than Me.
Than, as used in comparatives, has traditionally been considered a
conjunction; as such, if you're comparing subjects, the pronouns after
than should take the "subjective case." In other words, "He's taller
than I," not "He's taller than me"; "She's smarter than he," not "She's
smarter than him." If, on the other hand, you're comparing direct or
indirect objects, the pronouns should be objective: "I've never worked
with a more difficult client than him."
There are some advantages to this traditional state of affairs. If you
observe this distinction, you can be more precise in some comparisons.
Consider these two sentences:
· He has more friends than I. (His total number of friends is higher
than my total number of friends.)
· He has more friends than me. (I'm not his only friend; he has
others.)
The problem, though, is that in all but the most formal contexts, "than
I" sounds stuffy, even unidiomatic. Most people, in most contexts, treat
than as a preposition, and put all following pronouns in the objective
case, whether the things being compared are subjects or objects. "He's
taller than me" sounds more natural to most native English speakers.
This isn't a recent development: people have been treating than as a
preposition for centuries. Consider the following from big-name English
and American writers:
· Matthew Prior, Better Answer: "For thou art a girl as much brighter
than her,/ As he was a poet sublimer than me."
· Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, 1.10.58, "I am fitter for this world
than you, you for the next than me."
· Lord Byron's letter of 2 November 1804, "Lord Delawarr is considerably
younger than me."
· Robert Southey, Well of St. Keyne, 51: "She had been wiser than me,/
For she took a bottle to Church."
· William Faulkner's Reivers, 4.82: "Let Lucius get out . . . He's
younger than me and stouter too for his size."
So what should you do? I don't have a good answer, other than the most
general advice possible: try to size up your audience, and figure out
whether they're likely to be happier with the traditional or the
familiar usage. [Entry added 3 Jan. 2005.]
--s2314@tmail.com
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