1 There were more casualties than was reported.
2 There were more casualties than reported.
Dear teacher,
Are both 1 and 2 grammartically correct? If yes, could you explain to me why "was" can be omitted? and there is any rule I can comply with? Thanks.
LQZ
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Good morning, LQZ.
(1) As I type, no one else has answered.
(2) If I start, maybe one of the teachers will answer us.
(3) I am about 75% sure that your sentence should read:
There were more casualties than WERE reported.
(a) I say this because maybe (maybe) your sentence means something
like:
More casualties occurred than the casualties that WERE actually reported.
(i) As you can see, "were" is necessary in order to agree with "casualties."
(4) I love rules, too. Sadly, I could not find a good, clear, definite rule.
The books just say that sometimes we can delete the subject or verb if
the sentence is "clear."
(a) So that learners are not confused, it would probably be better NOT
to delete "were."
(5) By the way, if (a big "IF") I read my books correctly, there is NO
missing subject in your sentence. That is, it is not considered "correct"
nowadays to say:
There were more casualties than WHAT were reported.
Have a nice day!
