Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sabrinawaiz]

Dear teachers,

Below is a quote from the movie "Layer Cake"

[pugachevV]

"...as clever as me" is grammatically incorrect, but it is the way many people speak.

If you change it to ...as clever as I (am), it will be grammatically correct and will not change the meaning.

It will be what an educated person would have said.

[sabrinawaiz]

Thank you very much, pugachevV.

In your explanation, you wrote:

[pugachevV]

It is unnecessary to write the final "am", although it is perfectly correct and normal to do so.
In fact it is often useful to include the (normally unspoken) verb when you are unsure whether to use the nominative or accusative form of the pronoun.

e.g. In your original example, if you add the verb, you would get "as clever as me am, which is patently incorrect.

Your grasp of English is excellent, so I hope you will not mind me pointing out that:-

[sabrinawaiz]

pugachevV, Thank you very much for your explanation and for pointing out the mistake in my writing.

I will be careful not to repeat this mistake again.

[pugachevV]

You're welcome, Sabrina.