Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[rice07]

Hi everyone
Than and as can replace subjects in clauses (rather like relative pronouns).
e.g.1:There were a lot of people at the exhibition- more than came last year.(than="than the people who" in here,is rather like relative pronoun)
e.g.2: Today's hotter than yesterday (was).=>"Than" is a conj. to combine two main clauses for comparision.
e.g.3:He worries more than is necessary.(Not ...more than it/what is necessary.)
My question's whether the sentence like e.g.3 is a short form of expression dropping"of/about it" ,and it's,or rather "He worries more about/of it than is necessary".=>That way "than" in here can refer to"than it which".
In my opinion,I might regard "than" as " a rather like relative pronoun" while there's a noun in front of it(than).Could you give me some suggestions!

[buddhaheart]

�E.g.1: There were a lot of people at the exhibition- more than *came last year.�

The verb �came� is not necessary in the above sentence. A full sentence might read �There were a lot more people at the exhibition (this year) than those who came last year.�

An RP (relative pronoun) (also called a conjunctive pronoun) does the work of a pronoun and a conjunction. A conjunction merely joins 2 sentences or sometimes words together.

Although an RP also connects sentences or words together just like a relative adverb or preposition, it must be distinguished from conjunction. �Than� in the sentence above does no other function but simply joins the 2 parts of the sentence. It introduces the dependent clause �those who came last year.� It�s a subordinating conjunction. It has no antecedent. An RP like �that� does the work of a pronoun also. It has an antecedent or at least an implied one like �what�. A preposition also in addition to joining, governs a noun or pronoun following.

�E.g.2: Today's hotter than yesterday (was).�

Indeed �than� is a conjunction here that joins 2 clauses for comparison but not as an RP.

�E.g. 3: He worries more than is necessary.�

A full sentence might read He worries (about it) more than (what/it) is necessary as suggested by you. The sentence as it stands is fine. It is being elided or shortened.

I�m sorry I might not be ready to buy your �a rather like relative pronoun� theory as yet. Others might think otherwise.

[rice07]

Hi Buddhaheart
Yes ,I couldn't agree with you more! First of all,thanks for your detailed analyses. By the way,the three above examples were in a grammer book I saw a few days ago,so "than is rather like a RP" that was introduced under that entry talking about RP wasn't my theory.
Regarding the e.g.3,had been confusing me for days until your your precise explanation, because I thought the sentence could be a short form of expression; the reason ,was that there should be an antecedent followed with " than " while "than" was served as RP. Finally,I sincerely thanks for your information about RP.