Than 作介詞和連詞的用法

內容簡介

聽眾 Jasmine 對單詞 “than” 作介詞和連詞時的區別感到困惑，她尤其想知道該如何判斷 “than” 後面跟的人稱代詞要用主格還是賓格。比如：She’s better at football than _______. 如果空格處隻能填一個表示 “他” 的單詞，該填 “him” 還是 “he”？在這句話中，“than” 的詞性是什麼？聽節目中的解答，學習 “than” 作介詞和連詞的用法。

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（關於臺詞的備註: 請註意這不是廣播節目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能沒有體現錄制、編輯過程中對節目做出的改變。）

Feifei
大傢好，歡迎收聽 AYYBLOG英語教學的 “你問我答” 節目。I’m Feifei.

Phil
And I’m Phil. We’ve got a question from Jasmine about how we use the word ‘than’.

Question
Hi! I’ve come across the usage of “than” many times, but I still fail to figure out how to use it. What is the difference between “than” as a conjunction and a preposition? Is the word after it in the nominative or objective case? Thank you.

Feifei
聽眾 Jasmine 想知道單詞 “than” 作介詞和作連詞的時候有什麼區別。

Phil
This is actually a question that people have been talking about for centuries, so I think we should try and answer it. Shall we start by quickly defining the difference between a preposition and a conjunction?

Feifei
Yes. 介詞和連詞都屬於語法上的功能詞，也就是無實義的虛詞，用來說明句中實義詞之間的關系。介詞和連詞的區別在於，介詞可以用在名詞、名詞詞組或者代詞之前。比如 “in the office”、“at work”、“on the other hand”。而連詞還可以用在從句或者短語的前面。比如：I went out although it’s raining.（雖然在下雨，但我還是出門瞭。）Please don’t leave until everyone arrives.（在所有人都到齊之前請不要離開。）在這兩句話中，連詞 “although” 和 “until” 後面直接跟瞭從句。

Phil
What complicates things is that some words can be both, and ‘than’ is one of those words. As highlighted in the question, that affects the case of the words that follow. Let’s have a look at ‘than’ as a preposition – we use it in comparisons to show what we’re comparing something to. Listen to these examples.

Examples
You’re older than me, aren’t you?
（你年紀比我大，對不對？）

She’s much better at football than him.
（她踢足球比他強多瞭。）

I can’t pick that bag of rice up, it weighs more than 50 kilos.
（我提不起這袋米，它有50多公斤重。）

Feifei
在上面的三個例句中，“than” 用作介詞，後面跟著人稱代詞或名詞詞組。註意，在介詞 “than” 的後面要用人稱代詞的賓格。比如例句中的 “older than me”、“better than him”。

Phil
As we said earlier, it can also be a conjunction. As a conjunction, it links two clauses together. This is where we need to pay attention to any personal pronouns. We need to use the appropriate subject or object forms depending on the roles they play in the clause. Listen to the examples.

Examples
You’re older than I am, aren’t you?
（你年紀比我大，對不對？）

She’s much better at football than he is.
（她踢足球比他強多瞭。）

I think it’s easier to learn Turkish than it is to learn Arabic.
（我覺得學土耳其語比學阿拉伯語容易。）

Feifei
在上面的三個例句中，“than” 用作連詞，雖然 “than” 的意思還是 “前者比後者……”，但它的後面跟的是從句。在第一個例句中，You’re older than I am, aren’t you? “Than” 後面的從句是 “I am”，從句的主語為人稱代詞主格 “I”。在第二個例句中，She’s much better at football than he is. “Than” 後面跟的從句是 “he is”，從句的主語是人稱代詞主格 “he”。

Phil
You will probably have noticed that the meaning didn’t really change in these examples – so what you need to pay attention to is whether ‘than’ is a preposition in front of a pronoun on its own, which will usually be an object, or whether it’s a conjunction in front of a pronoun that is the subject of the following clause.

Feifei
在上面的例句中，不論 “than” 是作介詞還是作連詞，其實隻是改變瞭句型，並沒有改變句意。比如：“You’re older than me.” 和 “You’re older than I am.” 這兩句話的意思一樣，都是 “你的年紀比我大。” 但在第一句話中，“than” 作介詞，後面跟人稱代詞賓格 “me”；在第二句話中，“than” 作連詞，後面跟從句 “I am”，這裡的人稱代詞 “I” 作從句的主語，要用主格。需要牢記的是，介詞 “than” 後面通常跟作賓語的名詞，而連詞 “than” 後面跟的通常是包含主語的從句。

Phil
We hope that we’ve answered your question. Remember that if you have a question you’d like us to answer, you can email us too at questions.

Feifei
你也可以通過微博向我們提問。我們的微博賬號是 “AYYBLOG英語教學”。謝謝收聽，下次再會！

Phil
Bye!