than

1.下面每组里的第一句合乎语法，第二句不合语法。

• He is older than she.
  He is older than her.
• You write much better than 1.
  You write much better than me.

在口语里第二句比第一句普通，但在文字里通常用第一句。不过在than whom中习惯用whom，不用who，如Mr Francis Davis, than whom I do not think any Englishman in China writes better, is sixty-five years old里的whom不可改作who。

2.He is older than she. ＝He is older than she is. You write much better than I. ＝You write much better than I do. is和do可有可无，假使没有，意思也很明白。但下面的第一句意思不明白，可能有第二句和第三句两个不同的意思：

• John likes Henry more than Peter.
• John likes Henry more than Peter does.
• John likes Henry more than he does Peter.

第二句里的Peter does等于Peter does Henry等于Peter likes Henry。

Peter, than whom John likes Henry more, is a good boy可能有两个意思：“彼得，约翰喜欢亨利过于喜欢他，是一个好男孩。”或“彼得，约翰喜欢亨利过于他喜欢亨利，是一个好男孩。”因为than后面只可以接whom，不可接who（参见1），所以这句可能有第二个意思。当然下面两句都只有一个意思：

• Peter, whom John likes less than he does Henry, is a good boy.
• Peter, who likes Henry less than John does, is a good boy.

3.下面两句意思不同：

• John likes Henry more than does Peter.
• John likes Henry more than he does Peter.

第一句里的does Peter等于Peter does。在这样简单的句子里用does Peter远不及用Peter does普通。假使does的主语长些，用does...似乎比用...does普通，如John likes Henry better than does anybody else who has known him for less than a year比John likes Henry better than anybody else who has known him for less than a year does普通。下面每组里的第一句似乎比第二句普通：

• No-one is more interested in it than is the little girl I have just spoken of.
  No-one is more interested in it than the little girl I have just spoken of is.
• He has collected more stamps than has any of his friends or of his father's friends.
  He has collected more stamps than any of his friends or of his father's friends has.

但这两组里的句子还是把is和has省去的好，省去了句子简洁些，意思也很明白。

4.I like you more than he. ＝I like you more than he does. 意思很明白。I like you more than him. ＝I like you more than I do him. 意思也很明白。没有受过良好教育的英美人有时把I like you more than him用作I like you more than he解，我们该避免。这种错误跟1里所说的He is older than her和You write much better than me两句里的错误相同，但那二句的意思并不含糊。2里的Peter, than whom John likes Henry more, is a good boy可能有两个意思，原因跟这里所说的相同。

5.下面两句都可以说：

• I know of no better artist than he.
• I know of no better artist than him.

第一句里的he等于he is，第二句里him跟artist处于同一格，似乎第二句比第一句普通。

6.下面四句都不可说：

• I am more and more interested in it than ever.
• He will learn to speak English better and better than before.
• The people became less and less superstitious than in the beginning of the last century.
• More and more nations in Africa have become united than fifty years ago.

more and more自成为一种比较，就是“昨天比前天多，今天比昨天多，明天比今天多”的意思，better and better和less and less也是这样。用了and，便含有than的意思，所以than ever，than before，than in the beginning of the last century和than fifty years ago里的than便没有着落了。要使那than有着落，必须把more and more interested改作more and more more interested，把better and better改作more and more better，把less and less改作more and more less（参见more 7），More and more people改作More and more more people，但这些都不自然，只须把and more，and better，and less和and more删去好了，或者把than...删去也好了。

当然，依照上面所说的三种改法得到的结果有三个意思。例如：

• I am more and more more interested in it than ever. （我对于这个逐渐比以往更加注意了。）
• I am more interested in it than ever. （我对于这个比以往注意了。）
• I am more and more interested in it. （我对于这个逐渐注意了。）

第二句和第三句都普通，第一句很不普通。但在必须表示第一句所表示的意思的场合似乎不能避免more and more more。

7.下面第一句和第二句都可以说，第三句不可说：

• John is a better man than Henry.
• John is the better man of the two.
• John is the better man than Henry.

the ...than是错误的。John is a better man of the two也不对。

8.7里所举的第二句里的the是冠词，the... than是错误的。I am none the better than you里的the是副词，the ... than也是错误的。

9.下面两句都不可说：

• The brim of my hat is wider than yours. （该在than的后面加上that of）
• I like stories written in the first person better than the third person.（该在than的后面加上those written in）

10.下面两句里的than都不算正当（参见hardly 2和scarcely 2）：

• I had hardly entered the room than he left it.
• Scarcely had I arrived than he came out to meet me.

11.下面各句里的than后面直接接动词，可说是那动词的主语：

• I wish I could write English with more freedom than is at present possible.
• You seem to take a keener interest in the subject than has ever been shown before.
• He played the piano much better than could have been expected.
• We were kept waiting longer than was absolutely necessary.
• The town offers better cultural advantages than has been generally supposed.
• When he resumed reading he thought he had got further on than was actually the case.
• That morning we drank more tea than had been our custom.
• She found the house much more luxuriously furnished than suited her purpose.

12.下面每句里的is或was可有可无：

• We must not have more furniture in our rooms than (is) required for convenience.
• They came earlier than (was) expected.

13.在do nothing else than，do less than，sooner than和rather than后面的不定式没有to。例如：

• I could do nothing else than wait.
• I could hardly do less than wait.
• I had sooner starve than surrender. （我宁愿饿死，不愿投降。）
• I stayed rather than go.

下面每句里的than后面的to可有可无：

• I cannot do better than (to) quote Shakespeare.
• You might do worse than (to) do as he does. （你依照他做，并不算坏。）
• I expect to fail no less than (to) succeed.

下面每句里的than后面的to也有人省去，但通常不省去：

• I know better than to believe him. （我不至于会相信他。）
• He is wiser than to waste much time over such trifles.
• She has a better opinion of you than to suspect you of anything.
• You have a greater command of English than to make such mistakes.

14.We went no further than Nanjing里的than用作介词。