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Please explain the error in the following:

He looks more depressed than her but I don't know the reason.

Is there any error in it? My book says her should be replaced by she. This confuses me often, please explain.

kumar
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  • Duplicate of [“than her” versus “than she"](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/30930/than-her-versus-than-she). – green_ideas Nov 28 '17 at 12:44

3 Answers3

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Native speakers often say

He looks more depressed than her.

but the objective-case her is considered [has long been considered] to be sub-standard. The standard version is

He looks more depressed than she does.

where "she does" means "she looks depressed".

He looks more depressed than she [looks depressed].

What is being compared is "he looks depressed" versus "she looks depressed".

However, very few native speakers would say:

He looks more depressed than she.

The overwhelming majority would say:

He looks more depressed than she does.

Tᴚoɯɐuo
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    Well-explained, except I would say that *He looks more depressed than her* is neutral and informal in register, while *than she* is highly formal. To deem something "sub-standard" implies a standard: What would that standard be? There is no rule in English that the objective case is incorrect in this usage. The OP's book confuses formality with grammatical correctness. – Jim Reynolds Nov 17 '17 at 15:30
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    @Jim Reynolds: I would say that "than she does" is neutral, and that "than her" and "than she" are sociolect phenomena. Formality and informality imply a *choice* of register, no? Not many speakers who would say "than her" have a clue they're being informal—that's just how they talk—whereas most who would say "than she" are quite aware they're being "formal" or "proper". – Tᴚoɯɐuo Nov 17 '17 at 15:49
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    The standard is the form used across all sociolects and dialects, when one exists. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Nov 17 '17 at 15:57
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    @Tᴚoɯɐuo: No, there is nothing wrong or informal about *He looks more depressed than her* - it is not informal; native speakers from the uneducated to the highly educated will consider it neutral. Saying or writing *He looks more depressed than she* would be considered highly unusual in most contexts. As for *... than she does*, that's also neutral, but the meaning is (slightly) different. – psmears Nov 17 '17 at 17:15
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    @psmears: What is the slight difference of meaning between "than she does" and "than her"? – Tᴚoɯɐuo Nov 17 '17 at 17:26
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    If you say "He looks more depressed than she does", the implication is that he *looks* more depressed than she looks (with a possible, though not certain, implication that he *isn't* more depressed than her). With "He looks more depressed than her", it's saying that his appearance suggests that he is the more depressed of the two, without that implication (unless it is suggested otherwise). – psmears Nov 17 '17 at 17:57
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    It's subtle, but roughly the difference is "(he *looks* depressed) more than (she *looks* depressed)" versus "his appearance is that (his level of depression) is greater than (her level of depression)". As I say, the difference is slight :-) – psmears Nov 17 '17 at 17:59
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    I'd say the possible semantic difference you describe might or might not be intended or interpreted--and I don't think we can easily say that the two either have or don't have a difference in meaning. When there is, I think it would more likely be marked by stress in the sentence (and more heavily by context). I doubt that we often (certainly not consciously) choose a register when we produce language, so I don't think describing something as formal or informal or neutral implies a choice. Or at least we've run into depths that occasion definitional and philosophical crises. Nice! – Jim Reynolds Nov 17 '17 at 18:18
  • Regarding the slight semantic difference: to me, "more depressed than her" is ambiguous between meaning "more depressed than she does" (he looks sadder, visually) and "more depressed than she is" (he seems sadder in his heart, based on appearance). – Soron Nov 17 '17 at 19:46
  • In both cases the comparand is "looks depressed". "more ... than she does" and "more ... than her" do not change the comparand by adding or subtracting ambiguity from it, or by coloring its meaning. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Nov 18 '17 at 12:31
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He looks more depressed than her/she but I don't know the reason.

In constructions like this, both forms of the pronoun are possible depending on its function in the clause, i.e. whether it is an immediate complement of a preposition or the subject of a reduced clause.

If it is understood as the complement of the preposition than, it is accusative her.

If it is subject of a reduced clause, the choice of case depends on the style.

In formal style, it appears as nominative (He looks more depressed than she ___), where the missing verb can be inserted to give the unreduced clause He looks more depressed than she does/looks.

But informal style has the accusative her (He looks more depressed than her ___), where the missing verb cannot be inserted.

Some speakers find I obtrusively formal and me obtrusively informal, and hence avoid both constructions by retaining the verb:

He looks more depressed than she does/looks but I don't know the reason.

BillJ
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The word "than" is a subject of debate among scholars and dictionaries. Some consider it a preposition, others consider it a conjunction, and yet others say it's neither of the above. The case of the following pronoun varies accordingly.

There are many appearances of "than" in both ways (e.g. "than her" and "than she") in classic literature and other text that are considered proper English.

You may refer to the Wikipedia article or to this post or this post in ELU for a longer discussion of this topic. Searching for "than me or than I" on Google would also show a surprising number of discussions.

None of the two versions is strictly incorrect; "than her" is probably more common in spoken English, but there are good arguments for using "than she" instead.

Not that this seems to be a matter of opinion, and whichever one you use, there will be people who will claim that it is incorrect.

laugh salutes Monica C
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