You know him better than "me" or "I".

Jane believes that Donna knows Eric better than she (Jane) knows Eric.

Should Jane tell Donna "You know him better than me" or should she tell him "You know him better than I"?

The first phrase seems to imply "You know him better than you know me" while the second phrase seems to imply "You know him better than I know him" so I think the second phrase might be the correct one but I would like a second (and even a third, fourth, fifth, etc...) opinion.

Thank you in advance for your kind replies.

Hi,

I'm not a native speaker but I think I would say:

you know him better than I do.

thanx.

It should be "You know him better than me", and the way to distinguish Donna-knows-Eric-better-than-Jane-knows-Eric and Donna-knows-Eric-better-than-she-knows-Jane is to place a slight emphasis on the word "him" in the second example.

Hmm. I think Jane should say she knows him "better than I." As in, than I do, the "do" being implicit. Just a gut hunch.

Here English allows for either "me" or "I" there. Another option is "I do." Formal written norms would generally prefer "I" there, which is fine in and of itself, but prescriptivistic rules decrying the use of "me" in such cases are laughable in being completely out of touch with how the language is actually spoken, even by the most prestigious educated native speakers.

Historically, English has allowed "I," "I do" or "me" in such positions for centuries, but "me" is most common in everyday speech. Personally, I'm a native speaker and I'd say my first choice would be to say:

"You know him better than me"

I'd be somewhat less likely to say "You know him better than I do" but it still sounds fine. I would rarely or never say "You know him better than I," altho I might use such a form in formal writing.

In my original posting, I said: Should Jane tell Donna "You know him better than me" or should she tell him "You know him better than I"?

What I really meant was: Should Jane tell Donna "You know him better than me" or should she tell HER "You know him better than I"?

I think, however, that everyone understood what I meant but I just wanted to clear it up anyway.

I think that saying "You know him better than I do" (which is what Kirk suggested - thank you Kirk) is probably the best and most unambiguous option.

In any case, thank you for the replies and keep them coming.

(Incidentally, don't you just absolutely love the way I used the word "unambiguous"?)

Kirk's answer was spot on. There's a lot of nonsense written about the use of "I versus me."

Both uses are fine. When you say: "you know him better than I," ellipsis is at work here; you're implying: "you know him better than I [do]."

Personally, I would use "you know him better than me" because that's the first construction that comes to mind and seems entirely natural to say.

<<I think that saying "You know him better than I do" (which is what Kirk suggested - thank you Kirk) is probably the best and most unambiguous option. >>

Glad to help :)

<<Personally, I would use "you know him better than me" because that's the first construction that comes to mind and seems entirely natural to say.>>

Yeah, that one seems most natural to me, too, and it wouldn't likely be ambiguous in the spoken context but I guess I can see how someone would opt for "I do" in writing to be absolutely sure.

Precsriptivists would have it that

1) "You know him better than me." means "You know him better than you know me."

and that

2) "You know him better than I." is short for "You know him better than I do."

This distinction would be quite useful except for the fact that people just don't speak or write like this except in formal contexts. In informal English "You know him better than me." can be used for either meaning. Therefore it is ambiguous. Where context doesn't make it clear which meaning you intend it's best to use the longer form.