Grammar Tip – Than I Versus Than Me

BizWritingTip reader: “I have a question for you. Which is right — he is taller than I or he is taller than me? I see both versions a lot.”

BizWritingTip response: Whenever a pronoun follows the words than or as in a comparison, the right pronoun is determined by mentally adding the remaining words. He is taller than I am. Therefore, I is the right pronoun.

(The following words are personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, or they.)

Example (Incorrect)

I think you would make a better manager than him.

Example(Correct)

I think you would make a better manager than he. (You could say “I think you would make a better manager than he would make.”)

Check your knowledge!

1. She edits better than I/me.

2. Roger is not as skilled as he/him.

3. They said they could handle the account better than us/we.

4. He is as able as her/she.

5. I have more confidence in the delivery date than him/he.

Answers:  (1) I, (2) he, (3) we, (4) she, (5) he

I realize that the phrase than I — although grammatically correct — sounds stuffy. And many people feel he is taller than me sounds better. So what should you do? Frankly, I prefer people stick with the grammatically correct version. However, a good argument can be made for the fact that if your audience is more familiar with the standard usage than me, then stick with that version. But watch out if you are writing to a purist.

This is how language changes!