I was recently pulled up by a colleague when I made a statement along the lines of I am a better player than her. My colleague suggested the correct statement should be better player than she is because her is a possessive pronoun, and my colleague was waiting to hear what noun her referred to.
I was unconvinced. I am able to say:
I am taller than Jim, which can become I am taller than him.
So, just because her is both the feminine possessive and personal pronoun why does that exclude me from saying I am taller than her?
Or, have I made a false assumption, and should never have a noun/pronoun without a verb at the end of a comparative structure? Should I always have been saying I am taller than Jim is, and Rabbits are faster than turtles are? This seems awfully cumbersome
Best Answer
I think your colleague may be getting at the idea that than is a conjunction, not a preposition. This is a long-running dispute. Those who argue that than is a conjunction, claim that it is followed by a clause in which the verb phrase can be elided. When that happens, the only word left must be the subject of the clause. Since her cannot be a subject, it would be considered wrong. Other people consider than to be a preposition. If that's the case, then they reason, a pronoun following it would be an object, so her would be correct. Both forms are used, but the than she form is formal in register while the than her is neutral.