Reflections on the grammatical category of the than element in English comparative constructions: A corpus-based systemic functional approach

Abstract

It is generally accepted that in comparative constructions, when the clausal element compared is the subject of the matrix clause, the personal pronoun following than can be either nominative which is usually used in formal English, where than is considered as a conjunction, or accusative which is usually used in informal English, where than is considered as a preposition. However, the data collected from the COCA corpus indicate that nominative pronouns do not tend to end a comparative construction in either formal or informal English. Based on the fundamentals of Systemic Functional Linguistics, it is improper to consider the accusative form of personal pronouns in comparative constructions as the object of than; rather they are the stressed personal pronouns. It is concluded that in comparative constructions than is always a conjunction, and the personal pronoun following than can be expanded into a finite clause. However, if the nominal group following than has no comparee in the matrix clause, it is not a comparative clause and the than-phrase is a prepositional phrase. It is further concluded that in comparative constructions than is best considered as a paratactic conjunction because comparative constructions cannot be transpositioned with the primary clauses in clause complexes.

Keywords

• Comparative construction
• Than
• Nominative
• Accusative
• Systemic functional linguistics