In the phrase "A better result than we expected", can the noun, "we", be omitted?
In '"A Student's introduction to English Grammar", it states that ""Than expected" is permitted within an attributive AdjP" and "A longer phrase (as in "a better result than we expected") would have to be located after the head noun where it functions as indirect complement". Can someone clarify why this is the case?
Thanks!
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Hello, Deng123, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange.
@Deng123 posted:In the phrase "A better result than we expected", can the noun, "we", be omitted?
Yes, it can.
@Deng123 posted:In '"A Student's introduction to English Grammar", it states that ""Than expected" is permitted within an attributive AdjP" and "A longer phrase (as in "a better result than we expected") would have to be located after the head noun where it functions as indirect complement". Can someone clarify why this is the case?
You are referring to this explanation under §1.9 Other functions of AdjPs on page 121 of Huddleston and Pullum's A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, where we can read:
ii a. The result was better than expected. b. a better than expected result
iii a. It was better than anyone expected. b. a better result than anyone expected
[...]
Than expected in [iib] is a short comparative complement that is permitted within an attributive AdjP.
A longer phrase would have to be located after the head noun, as in [iiib] , where it functions as indirect complement (see Ch. 5, §4).
What the authors say is that, being a short comparative complement, "than expected" can form part of an adjective phrase in attributive position: a better than expected result
However, if "expected" has a subject, for example "we," the comparative complement will have to form part of an adjective phrase in predicative position: The result was better than we expected.
This phrase does not work: *a better than we expected result
The authors explain that the presence of a subject, be it we or anyone, makes the length of the comparative complement excessive (and, I'd add, renders its form inappropriate) to be placed within an adjective phrase premodifying the noun. If the subject is not there, the comparative complement can appear both before and after the noun:
- We achieved a better than expected result.
- The result turned out to be better than expected.
Thanks for the clarification! There's a second edition of the textbook out now. Your explanation still stands.
