[Grammar] Comparison with elliptical construct

[vpkannan]

Is the following sentence correct?

'More people came than had been invited.' (read in a grammar book)

Or should it be as follows:

1. 'More people came than having been invited.'
2. 'More people came than being invited.'
3. 'More people came than invited.'
4. 'More people came than those having been invited / being invited / invited.'
5. 'More people came than the number of people who had been invited.'

Which of the above sentences are correct?

Thanks

 

[MikeNewYork]

The grammar book sentence is the best.

 

[Raymott]

1, 2, 3 and 4 a and b are incorrect.
4c and 5 are arguably grammatical, but not natural. The only natural, correct sentence is the one from the book.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would accept "More people came than were invited" as correct but "... than had been ..." is the best version.

 

[vpkannan]

In the given sentence 'More people came than had been invited', the word 'than' is, I think, a preposition and should be followed by a noun (phrase) only, not the finite verb 'had been invited'. Therefore, the gerund 'having been invited' would be the appropriate construct after 'than'.

Otherwise, kindly explain me the parts of speech of the sentence and the corresponding sentence structure.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No. In that sentence "than" is part of a conjunction set up by "more".

It is similar to "I have more money than you have."

 

[Matthew Wai]

Is "people who came are more than people who had been invited' the original sentence?

 

[MikeNewYork]

In the original sentence, a certain number of people were invited and more than that number showed up.

 

[vpkannan]

If 'than' is a conjunction (coordinating) as in "I have more money than you have", what is the subject of the finite verb 'had been invited'? If it is elliptical, what is the hidden subject? Please give me the full sentence with the words deliberately left out.

 

[Raymott]

5. 'More people came than the number of people who had been invited.' The ellipted subject is "the number of people".
The full sentence with the words deliberately left out is, 'More people came than had been invited.'

 

[vpkannan]

If 'More people came than had been invited.' is the elliptical form of 'More people came than the number of people who had been invited.', then, the subject 'the number of people who' is deliberately left out and the remaining part of the subordinating clause is just 'had been invited', a finite / complete verb. Is it proper to write a subordinating clause without the subject?

 

[Raymott]

Yes, it must be proper in this case, because that's what we do.
"More people drive than walk" = "More people than the number of people who walk drive." = "More people drive than the number of people who walk".
"Fewer Australians ride a motorbike than drive a car."
"More students pass than fail."
...

 

[MikeNewYork]

If 'than' is a conjunction (coordinating) as in "I have more money than you have", what is the subject of the finite verb 'had been invited'? If it is elliptical, what is the hidden subject? Please give me the full sentence with the words deliberately left out.

"Than" is not usually classified as a coordinating conjunction.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Is it correct to say 'More people came than expected'?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.

 

[vpkannan]

Dear Mr. Raymott


In all the examples you have quoted, the second verb following the word 'than' are all (bare) infinitives and can be described as 'infinitive noun phrase' following the preposition 'than', functioning together as a prepositional phrase.


In my sentence 'More people came than had been invited', 'had been invited' is a finite verb, and therefore, I think, cannot be used as a complete subordinating clause. Such usage is perhaps ungrammatical. However, English is only ESL for me, and if you and the other moderators, being native speakers of English, find the usage more natural and idiomatic, it must be correct.


Thanks a lot.

 

[vpkannan]

Dear Mr. MikeNewYork

In my earlier post, I have marked 'than' as a coordinating conjunction by mistake, but, it was 'subordinating conjunction' in my mind.

Thanks.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No problem. I just wanted to correct the information for you and for others that are reading the thread.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Since 'More people came than expected' is correct, why is 'More people came than invited' incorrect?

 

[Raymott]

Dear Mr. Raymott
In all the examples you have quoted, the second verb following the word 'than' are all (bare) infinitives

"More students pass than fail."
So, 'pass' is a genuine finite verb, but 'fail' is a bare infinitive? How do you work that out?

PS: "English is only ESL for me, and if you and the other moderators, being native speakers of English, find the usage more natural and idiomatic, it must be correct."
That's true as far as idioms and naturalness are concerned. But you seem to have a fair grasp of the grammar. If you can prove your point, preferably with reference to something authoritative, you could still have a case to make. For example, you could start by proving that 'fail' is a bare infinitive.