You are much stronger than I thought.

[tufguy]

"He was much stronger than he thought".

"You are much stronger than I thought you were".

Please check.

 

[Rover_KE]

Checked. :up:

 

[PaulMatthews]

(1) He was much stronger [than he thought].

(2) You are much stronger [than I thought you were].

They are both fine. These are examples of comparative clauses. Comparative clauses are distinct in that they are usually obligatorily 'reduced' in some way when compared to main clauses. In (1), for example, the complement of "thought" is missing, but it's understood as something like "he was (strong)". The meaning is "He was x strong; he thought he was y strong; x > y".

And the meaning of (2) is "You are x strong; I thought you were y strong; x > y".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think 'you were' can be omitted from (2).

 

[PaulMatthews]

I think 'you were' can be omitted from (2).

Yes, of course, just as it can in (1) but I think the whole point of the OP including it in (2) was to check if both degrees of 'reduction' in a comparative clause are equally correct, which they are.