[etni] Fwd: "Daily Writing Tips"

From: ETNI list <etni.list@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:32:46 +0200
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Esther Revivo <estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Daily Writing Tips"

Hello folks! A year or so ago someone here praised a great site that
sends daily hints about correct/ better writing. I love it! When you
get the e-mail, the subject of that day's post appears on the subject
of the e-mail, so if you're not interested, just delete. I copied and
pasted an example from the post I received today. I've always loved
writing and have learned a great deal about language since joining
their list. Take a peek!

All the Best-

Esther Revivo


Their e-mail is : "Daily Writing Tips" info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Taller Than He

A reader questions the use of “than him” in the following statement:

From 1970 on, his secretary Marie-José Gros-Dubois, twenty years
younger than him, was faithfully near his side.

Asks the reader,

Is this correct?—or should it say “twenty years younger than he”?

Whether “than him” is correct or not depends upon whether than is seen
as a preposition or a conjunction.
Since I cannot think of than as anything but a conjunction, the use of
“than him” in this sentence strikes me as non-standard.
The OED has listings for than as a demonstrative pronoun and as a
conjunction, but not as a preposition. However, it does include a note
about the use of than as a preposition and states that this use “is
now considered incorrect.”
Merriam-Webster, however, defends the use of than as a preposition.

[than as a preposition is] used by speakers on all educational levels
and by many reputable writers with the objective case form of the
following pronoun when the first term in the comparison is the subject
of a verb or the predicative complement after a copulative verb though
disapproved by some grammarians except in the phrase than whom

Bottom line: If you’re writing for a British audience, don’t ever
write “than him.” If you’re writing for an American audience, think
twice about it. Written English is more conservative than spoken
English. Speakers who think nothing of saying “She’s taller than me”
in conversation may still cringe to see it in print.
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[etni] Fwd: "Daily Writing Tips"

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