This was my dilemma:
1. He is better than I am.
2. He is better than I.
In the second sentence, is it a conjunction with a following ellipted clause after 'better', or, owing to to the redesigned syntactical environment, should I conceive of 'than' in 'than I' as being a converted preposition from a conjunction: 'than' followed by 'I' vaguely resembles a prepositional phrase? Vaguely only, as the form of 'I' is out of place. There is only one explanation for the grammaticality of #2 that comes to mind and I can accept: Do not rely on your eyes. Look behind the scenes.
Now look at this:
3. He is far from being happy. -- prep. (from) + noun (gerund clause) --> Alles in ordnung (Everything is fine).
4. He is far from happy. -- prep. (from) + adj. (happy)
Traveling on my train of thought further, the question comes up at the inspection of the fourth sentence: Is this correct to assert in a world where only those things exist which my eyes can perceive that an adjective can't follow a preposition? I am torn between thinking that the fourth sentence is incorrect grammar and thinking that 'happy', together with the invisible but understood gerund head (being), is there with sufficient justification.
What do you think?