Look at this sentence: He likes ice cream more than me.
Do you know what the writer is trying to say? Here are two possibilities:
He likes ice cream more than he likes me.
He likes ice cream more than I like ice cream.
So how do we know what the true meaning really is? The answer is – we don’t.
As writers, we must be careful to use words in a way that conveys what we really want to say. So lets look at this troublesome sentence and see how we could do it better in the future.
The word than is functioning here as a comparative preposition, and we typically use the object pronoun me after a preposition. So this is proper usage – for the first meaning listed above.
In the sentence He likes ice cream more than me, ice cream and me are being compared as objects of affection. The writer is saying that ice cream wins the affection contest. Ice cream is more popular than me. He likes ice cream more than me.
If the writer is trying to compare who likes ice cream better, it is best to use the subject pronoun I and another verb, like this: He likes ice cream more than I do.
Remember to be careful with pronouns. Just because something is technically grammatically correct, it may not be the best way to express your meaning. Always check to see that what you write conveys what you actually want to say.