Buying on margin means borrowing money from a broker to buy more securities than can be purchased with one's own money alone.
- I was wondering if than in the above example is a conjunction or preposition?
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Is there some word left out in the part after than? If yes, is the
complete sentenceBuying on margin means borrowing money from a broker to buy more
securities than what can be purchased with one's own money
alone.Added: "can be purchased", the part after "than", is not a complete sentence because of lacking the subject, compared to a more usual example "He is taller than I am".
- Can somebody explain a little more about the usage of than in
examples like this? I would like to understand how the sentence is grammatically correct.
Best Answer
No, there is nothing missing. Stripping the sentence down to the construction in question, we get ‘more securities than can be purchased.’ This is on the same pattern as, say, ‘more food than can be eaten’, and is perfectly grammatical.