me or I

[britfan]

What is correct?
She can't be much older than me.
She can't be much older than I.

 

[emsr2d2]

Both are correct. You'll hear the first most often in BrE.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'... than I am' is also correct.
I think 'What' is not correct below. I would use 'Which' instead.

What is correct?

 

[bubbha]

What is correct?
She can't be much older than me.
She can't be much older than I.

The first is most common, but is technically incorrect.
The second is correct, but sounds old-fashioned, pedantic and forced, to me, at least.

For something that's both correct and normal sounding, use the following:

"She can't be much older than I am."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The first is most common, but is technically incorrect.
The second is correct, but sounds old-fashioned, pedantic and forced, to me, at least.

For something that's both correct and normal sounding, use the following:

"She can't be much older than I am."

Yes, exactly. In American English, "than I am" is considered both natural and grammatical. "Than me" isn't grammatical, and "than I" isn't natural.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . 'What' is not correct below. I would use 'Which' instead.

Yes. "What" suggests that there might be other choices than the two you've presented. "Which" confines us to the two choices you've given.

So "Which" is probably the word you want.

 

[emsr2d2]

A perfect example of how language works in real life rather than in textbooks. The grammatical "... than I" sounds unnatural (or pompous) to some people yet the ungrammatical "... than me" is the one used most often, in BrE at least. At least "... than I am" is used and sounds good in both variants mentioned so far!

 

[GoesStation]

The first is most common, but is technically incorrect.

I would add according to obsolete grammars which ignore actual English usage.

 

[GoesStation]

A perfect example of how language works in real life rather than in textbooks. The grammatical "... than I" sounds unnatural (or pompous) to some people yet the ungrammatical "... than me" is the one used most often, in BrE at least.

Than me is only ungrammatical if the author of the grammar disregards the way English speakers use the language. There are a couple of simple ways to make She can't be much older than me grammatically correct. I prefer the simple observation that me is a disjunctive pronoun in this sentence.

 

[Matthew Wai]

There are a couple of simple ways to make She can't be much older than me grammatically correct.

I think there are always ways to make something ungrammatical grammatical as long as a considerable number of native speakers say it.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I would add according to obsolete grammars which ignore actual English usage.

Yes. Like the references I use! Again, "me" is natural, even if it's not approved of in those obsolete print references.