Please differentiate between:
(i) He is not as tall as I am & He is not so tall as I am.
(ii) He is not as tall as I & He is not so tall as I.
(iii) He is not as tall as me & He is not so tall as me
In those examples the use of “as” is correct because there is a comparison made. If you read the definition of the word “so” I think those examples attempt to use definition #2 which is “in that or this manner or fashion”. This sounds correct when it is a simple statement, but not in a comparison.
Here is a correct use of the word “so”:
a) I am so happy!
b) It is raining so hard
Alan, I would like you to clarify the position, because one British grammarian says ‘so’ is suitable in negative expressions and ‘as’ in positive. Another says ‘as’ is acceptable for both positive and negative expressions.
As regards ‘I’ and ‘me’ modern English approves of the latter. Please comment.
Hi,
Out of habit rather than conviction I would use ‘so’ in the negative comparison but both ‘as’ and ‘so’ are used regularly in negative comparisons. In the construction 'not so/as tall as …you would continue with ‘as I am’ if you compared one sentence with another. When the verb is dropped in the second half, the use of ‘me’ rather than ‘I’ is common practice and would only be objected to by the dyed in the wool purist.
Alan
Thank you, Alan. I like your idiom dyed-in-the-wool, really.