{"id":1777,"date":"2019-03-25T22:17:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T02:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2021-02-27T11:44:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T16:44:00","slug":"grammar-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/grammar-police\/","title":{"rendered":"You Think You’re Better Than Me?! An Open Letter to the Grammar Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was at my shul last week and got into an interesting argument with my friend Bill Schwartz. I said, “Bill, the reason you feel this way is that you’re older than me.”<\/p>\n

“Than I,” he corrected me.<\/p>\n

“No. I really think it’s ‘than me.’ It’s clearly the object of the sentence.”<\/p>\n

“Let’s ask my wife Janet. She used to be an English teacher.”<\/p>\n

“It’s ‘than I,'” said Janet.<\/p>\n

“OK, I said. I’ll look it up and get back to you.”<\/p>\n

“Great,” said Bill. “I love receiving email.”<\/p>\n

So I looked it up and I found some interesting pieces. My favorite is this bit from Merriam-Webster<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Some people think they’re better than you because they say “better than I” instead of “better than me.”<\/p>\n

They’re not, of course. They’re just among the select group of grammar enthusiasts who think that\u00a0than<\/em>\u00a0can only be a conjunction. You, on the hand, recognize that it can also be a preposition.<\/p>\n

That’s right: whether you say “better than me,” “taller than I,” or “more annoying than they” has to do with grammatical categories that we typically only consider when a teacher asks us to.<\/p>\n

But the bigger issue is believing that there’s a “right grammar.” John McWhorter is a Professor at Columbia University who writes about how grammar is more a fashion than anything else<\/a>. McWhorter writes:<\/p>\n

An especially enlightening read is William Cobbett\u2019s book-length lecture to his son called \u201cA Grammar of the English Language.\u201d Cobbett\u2019s sense of what good English was in 1818 seems, in 2012, so bizarre we can scarcely imagine someone speaking in such a way and being taken seriously.<\/p>\n

To Cobbett, the past tense forms\u00a0awoke, blew,\u00a0 built, burst, clung, dealt, dug, drew, froze, grew, hung, meant, spat, stung, swept, swam, threw and wove<\/em>\u00a0were all mistakes. The well-spoken person, Cobbett instructed,\u00a0swimmed<\/em>\u00a0yesterday and\u00a0builded<\/em>\u00a0a house last year. In\u00a0Google\u2019s handy Ngram viewer,<\/a>\u00a0using data from millions of books over several centuries, one can see that\u00a0builded<\/em>\u00a0only started falling out of disuse around 1920. Not for any reason; no one discovered that\u00a0builded<\/em>\u00a0was somehow elementally deficient. Fashion changed.<\/p>\n

So why was Bill Schwartz so insistent on “better than I?” Let’s use Google Ngram to see the historical trends of these two phrases. You can click on the graphic to interact with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As you can see, when Bill was in school, “better than I” was the fashion. But don’t lose hope, “better than me” is coming on strong!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at my shul last week and got into an interesting argument with my friend Bill Schwartz. I said, “Bill, the reason you feel this way is that you’re older than me.” “Than I,” he corrected me. “No. I really think it’s ‘than me.’ It’s clearly the object of the sentence.” “Let’s ask my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8wCkz-sF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10671,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/words-words-words-the-hidden-bias-in-language\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":0},"title":"Words, Words, Words: The Hidden Bias in Language","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"January 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When we were in London, we went to the fanciest teahouse in the world and were given a pastry fork\u2014a delicate little thing, part fork, part knife, designed for the precise task of slicing through scones and dainty pastries. Sitting there in such an elegant setting, it struck me how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/life-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shakespeare-Parking-2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4278,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/in-the-beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":1},"title":"The Best Technology Articles Ever Written","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"October 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always enjoyed first person accounts of the beginning\u00a0of the computer age. What was it like to be there? How did people view new technologies before they became part of our everyday lives? I've put together a list of some of my favorite magazine articles that capture that feeling. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11165,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/what-1-can-buy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":2},"title":"What $1 Can Buy","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a story about an experiment in giving. I\u2019m used to walking down the street and seeing someone sitting on the sidewalk with a sign: \u201cHomeless. Please Help.\u201d And I feel it\u2014that tension. That deep, emotional tug to help. But then the mental calculus starts. There are so many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Judaism"","block_context":{"text":"Judaism","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/judaism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Framed-Dollar-Small.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1007,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/smart-audio\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":3},"title":"Smart Audio is Here to Stay: Some Takeaways from NPR’s Smart Audio Report","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"April 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"NPR and Edison\u00a0Research have been putting together The Smart Audio Report. The study, presented at\u00a0CES in January,\u00a0gives a good look into how quickly smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home are entering the home: It's growing fast:\u00a016% of Americans have a smart speaker\u00a0\u2212\u00a0128% growth\u00a0since January 2017 Usage is growing over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Product Management"","block_context":{"text":"Product Management","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/product-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-04-at-9.08.41-PM-1024x483.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-04-at-9.08.41-PM-1024x483.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-04-at-9.08.41-PM-1024x483.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8677,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/crafting-the-future-building-my-ai-writing-partner-with-chatgpt\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":4},"title":"Crafting the Future: Building My AI Writing Partner with ChatGPT","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting a New Writing Adventure I've started on a fun new project: using ChatGPT to help with my writing. It should be able to help me with my writing by making suggestions and helping with the boring parts of writing. Essentially, it'll help me get into the flow of writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChatGPT"","block_context":{"text":"ChatGPT","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/chatgpt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":786,"url":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/malcolm-gladwells-favorites\/","url_meta":{"origin":1777,"position":5},"title":"Malcolm Gladwell’s Favorite Writers and Storytellers","author":"Robert Schlaff","date":"January 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Malcolm Gladwell is one of the best writers of our generation. That's not to say he's always right. As he likes to say, \"I hope you find my work entertaining even when it's wrong.\" Gladwell has done some amazing stuff as a magazine writer, book writer, speaker, and even podcast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fun Stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Fun Stuff","link":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/category\/fun-stuff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5044,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/5044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schlaff.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}