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I find that when I write as I speak, I use me in the following:
"Does anyone other than me...". But when I proof read it, I always say that is incorrect because me turns out to be the subject of what follows. I googled this construct and I found that "Does anyone other than I" occurs about 23,000 times and "Does anyone other than me" occurs only about 14,000.
My question is, "Why do I want to say me?" Is it because while speaking I think me is the object of than and am not yet aware that it is really a subject? Or is it that most people shouldn't speak because they don't know what they are talking about? (or is it "about that which they are talking?" or is it speaking?)
"Me" can be an acceptable choice. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage has a good note on this on pages 627 and 628.
"Everyone expects me to turn up as the object of a preposition or a verb. [...] But me also turns up in a number of places where traditional grammarians and commentators prescribe I. Many of these disputed uses of me result from historical pressure of word position; language historians tell us that since sometimes around the 16th century me has been appearing in places where I had before been regular—such as after as and than and the verb be—because those places are much like similar positions such as after prepositions and transitive verbs—where me, or any other objective form, is usual.
"All of the constructions so far mentioned are generally accepted by commentators as historically justified. You will note, however, that they are most likely to be found in speech an in writing of a relaxed personal or conversational style. In more formal contents you may want to use I after be and after as and than when the first term of a comparison is the subject of a verb."
Gosh darn it Grant, that is about the most reassuring "maybe" I've heard in a while. The context I was using when the question occurred was like, "Doesn't anyone other than me ask these questions?" Logically it is the same as, "Do I ask these questions?" But it sounds like, "Isn't there anyone other than me?" Posing it that way, the problem makes sense to me. It could be either depending on what you intend to emphasize.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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