The than I/than me debate: MN jury required!

[IAmSherlocked]

Bob is more knowledgeable than I.

or

Bob is more knowledgeable than me?

I used the first version yesterday and was corrected by someone who said it should be the second. If I google it, there seems to be no consensus of opinion. While the general feeling is that the former is grammatically correct, the latter is becoming accepted usage.

Opinions, please! and please agree with me because the person I was arguing with is really smug and needs to be taken down a peg or two

"Bob likes Sarah more than me.
Bob likes Sarah more than I. "

"the first says that he prefers sarah.
the second is that i prefer bob."

I don't agree with that second one - surely it's "Bob likes Sarah more than I [like Sarah]"

Bob is more knowledgeable than I am
Bob is more knowledgeable than me.

No nickel. The first does mean that he prefers Sarah, but the second means that he likes Sarah more than I like Sarah. Or is that what you meant? There's no implication that I like Bob at all, so in that sense your answer is unclear.

You have to understand other bits of sentence in both cases, to help you understand how the grammar works.

Bob likes Sarah more than [he likes] me.
Bob likes Sarah more than I [like Sarah].

This is how they wrote in the fourteenth century - I think it's a bit of a reach to suggest that by using correct grammar we are attempting to revert to this!

I'm just not sure it's applicable to the other example...still thiking

cos it's archaic, sher

that was my point, Northey - there are 3 comparables, so it can be he prefers sarah or i don't like sarah as much as he does.

Bob likes Sarah more than me.
Bob likes Sarah more than I.
he likes sarah more than i like sarah, so i can extrapolate that i prefer bob. (to sarah)

What do you mean by three comparables? I'm not sure I quite get your drift.

sorry, i thought you'd said second (cosd i didn't read it properly)

in actual fact, both are correct - the 2nd in modern English and the 1st archaically.

i prefer the 2nd because it doesn't need implication, it is as it states.

the 3 comparables are bob, sarah and me.
in the knowldge question, there are 2 comparables: me and bob.

Bob likes Sarah more than me.
Bob likes Sarah more than I.
he likes sarah more than i like sarah, so i can extrapolate that i prefer bob. (to sarah)

that doesn't work. If you 'liked' each other on a score out of ten he might like sarah an 8, and you might like sarah a 7. Your liking of bob doesn't really come into it

stealth - it isn't applicable. that's why it's a daft comparison.

x-posts

no,. it sdoesn't, you're right, but it's the same as the juicy red apple thing.

juicy red apple? curious!

Your third sentence doesn't work as an interpretation of the first two sentences, nickel. The sentences don't tell you anything at all about whether I like Bob or not.

i know.
i'm trying to bf a baby too.
it worked in my head when i first wrote my reply.

"a juicy red apple is nice, but not every apple is red"

(one migh tbe true, but it doesn't necessarily prove the rule of the other)

Anyway, the point of those two sentences was to try to show prism that we always understand extra bits of sentences in our heads to help us understand them, and that doing that also helps us see what the grammar should be.

I hope your baby is imbibing an interest in grammar along with your milk :)

are you thinking of the "100% of murderers brush their teeth in the morning"
"I brush my teeth in the morning"
"Therefore you must be a murderer"

that's the thing! thank you/

(i'm right on the me thing though, regardless. i love thees ans thous and prefer king james's translation, but my everyday english is modern)

I would think, although don't know, that the answer is they are both correct, and are entirely different sentences.

Bob is more fatter than I [am fat]
Bob is fatter than me

The "I" and "me" hold different functions within the sentence, it's just coincidence that the sentences can be made to look so similar with variants of the same word one place.

This is in "most active" due to nickel's prolific posting.

but they both say the same thing!
because there are two comparables, they both say that bob is the fattest of the two of us.

Leaving aside the correctness of of the "more fatter" ... , I agree, stealth. Though the original sentence can never have a variant where "than me" is grammatically correct, whereas the Bob/Sarah/me threesome can.