This question actually came up to me when reading one of CB’s explanation to a math question. They wrote, Since Stacy is the 12th tallest, there are 11 students who are taller than she. And since Stacy is the 12th shortest, there are 11 students who are shorter than she.
Why do they use “she” for “taller than she” at the end of these sentences? I know that “she” is used when it is the subject of the sentence, and “her” is used when it is the object of the sentence. However, in these sentences, I can’t tell how the “she” is being used. It doesn’t seem to be the subject directly, but only referring to Stacy AS the subject. Is this a rule, to use the subject case of a pronoun when it is referring directly back to a subject? Can someone explain this further in more detail?
Thanks.
The following should answer your question:
http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/30930/than-her-versus-than-she
There’s an omitted word that is understood to be there: “…shorter than she IS.”
But nobody talks like that sooo you’re probably fine never using it.
Subjects can only be compared to subjects. “Her” is an object. So in any clause that includes the phrase “X is Y-er than Z,” Z must be in the subjective pronoun case. Pronoun case is important on this test and it’s a good idea to simply learn it once and for all.