Victorz wrote:
In this comparison guide, I noticed the following examples: "He has more comics than me." "They have as much food as we." Why does one uses "me" while the other uses "we" instead of "us"?
Hello,
Victorz. The short answer is that they are both correct, but so, too, would be the counterpart to the first sentence. Consider:
1)
He has more comics than I.Rationale:
Than is being used as a
conjunction, and the sentence conveys that someone has more comics than I
have. In the original sentence,
than is being used as a
preposition instead, making the noun that follows it the object of the preposition, thereby justifying the use of
me. This is a controversial subject, whether
than is a conjunction (more traditional) or preposition, and context can typically steer the reader in one direction or the other. But in an isolated sentence, all we can say is that either interpretation is valid. Please refer to
this Grammar Girl article on the topic.
2)
They have as much food as us.Rationale:
As... as is an idiomatic phrase construct that joins like entities. As such, there is no part of speech it falls under. In the sentence at hand, we need to join
as much food with a noun to create a proper comparison between nouns, and it would not make sense to say that they have as much food as
us have.
Us is the object of a preposition,
not a subject.
I hope that helps clarify your concerns. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
_________________
I am no longer contributing to GMAT Club. Please request an active Expert or a peer review if you have questions.