[Grammar] He is as smart a boy as me.

[wotcha]

He is as smart a boy as me.


Is this sentence grammatically correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

You'll hear it, but you'll find plenty of people who insist it's "He is as smart a boy as I [am]."

 

[Finicky]

He is as smart a boy as me.


Is this sentence grammatically correct?

The form of pronoun is fine in informal register. Furthermore, and in my book, the use of subjective pronoun (I) without a subsequent operator is rare (as ... as I).
I think wotcha's indecision regarding the grammaticality of her example sentence comes from elsewhere.

This is what many non-native English speakers would normally expect:

He is [a boy (who is)] as smart as me.

Swan says this in PEU, at p. 10:

14. adjectives (3) position after 'as', 'how', 'so', 'too'

After 'as', 'how', 'so', 'too' and 'this/that' meaning 'so', adjectives go before a/an. This structure is common in a formal style.

I have as good a voice as you.
How good a pianist is he?
I could not afford that big a car.
It was so warm a day that I could hardly work.
She is too polite a person to refuse.

The word order is formal (Swan), and the choice of case of pronoun is informal (Swan). Consistency in style suffers.
:up:

 

[5jj]

I think wotcha's indecision regarding the grammaticality of her example sentence comes from elsewhere.

This is what many non-native English speakers would normally expect: He is [a boy (who is)] as smart as me.

In my experience, non-native speakers tend to expect I, which is more 'logical'. It is also what is still taught by many non-native speakers (and by some native speakers)

Your passage from Swan is about the position of adjectives, not about pronoun forms. Elsewhere (3rd edition, page 136), Swan says:

In an informal style we can use object pronouns (me, him etc) after as. [...]
In a formal style, we prefer subject + verb after as.
A subject form without a verb (e.g. as well as he) is unusual in this structure in modern English.

The word order is formal (Swan), and the choice of case of pronoun is informal (Swan). Consistency in style suffers.

That is not quite what Swan says.