There were more candidates than expected.

请问：than expected 是从句吗？

【答】我提供的下面这段英文，摘自国外语法书，供参考。

一、than expected 应视为than was expected 的省略，不是than it was expected。我觉得，这里than 指代整个主句的内容，不是candidates。这里，than 是关系代词作从句的主语。

than expected：这个表达十分常见，查一下英美语料库便知。

在实际语言中，was 一般不用，显得啰嗦。

这个问题，以前我跟曹老师讨论过，还写了一个解答：http://ask.yygrammar.com/q-23051.html

不知何故，我的解答“被删去”（共有3个解答，目前只有两个。被曹老师采纳的我那个解答，现在没有了），而且这个问题也“被过期”。

二、than 表示比较概念，它是关系代词或关系副词，不是从属连词，它一定在从句中作某种成分（主语、表语、宾语或状语）。我们只要证明以下句子中，than符合上述条件即可：

1. Tom is taller than John. 等于：Tom is taller than John is.

不能说：Tom is taller than John is tall.

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代tall的作用，在从句中作表语。

2. Tom runs faster than John. 等于：Tom runs faster than John does (runs).

不能说：Tom runs faster than John runs fast.

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代fast的作用，在从句中作状语。

3. I have more money than you. 等于：I have more money than you have.

不能说：I have more money than you have much money.

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代much money的作用，在从句中作宾语。

4. Don’t give children more money than is necessary.

不能说：Don’t give children more money than it is necessary.

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代much money的作用，在从句中作主语。

5. He often eats more than is good for his health.

不能说：He often eats more than it is good for his health.

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代much 的作用，在从句中作主语。

6. More people hope to live in the countryside than used to (do).

不能说：More people hope to live in the countryside than they used to (do).

这说明：than是关系词，它既表示比较的意义，又有指代many people的作用，在从句中作主语。

综上，可以得出如下结论：than表示比较概念，它是关系代词或关系副词，不是从属连词，它一定在从句中作某种成分（主语、表语、宾语或状语）。

• Since the 1700s, grammarians have insisted that than should be regarded as a conjunction in all its uses, so that a sentence such as Bill is taller than Tomshould be construed as an elliptical version of the sentence Bill is taller than Tom is. According to this view, the case of a pronoun following than is determined by whether the pronoun serves as the subject or object of the verb that is "understood." Thus, the standard rule requires Pat is taller than I (not me) on the assumption that this sentence is elliptical for Pat is taller than I am. But the rule allows The news surprised Pat more than me, because this sentence is taken as elliptical for The news surprised Pat more than it surprised me. But this analysis is somewhat contrived. Than is quite commonly treated as a preposition when followed by an isolated noun phrase, and it often occurs with a pronoun in the objective case: John is taller than me. In such sentences using the nominative case (than I) can sound unnatural and even pretentious, and objecting to the objective case of the pronoun may sound pedantic.

• In comparisons using than and as, the second element should be phrased to parallel the first, and faulty parallelism can arise especially when prepositional phrases are involved. In the sentence They felt that the condition of the new buildings was not much better than the old ones, the condition of the new buildings is compared with the old buildings themselves, not with their condition. The pronoun that must be added to balance the noun condition. The noun can be repeated instead, but in either case the prepositional phrase with ofmust follow: They felt that the condition of the new buildings was not much better than that (or than the condition) of the old ones. Similar parallelism should follow as: I want the photos in our brochure to look as impressive as those in their brochure (not I want the photos in our brochure to look as impressive as their brochure).

• Than and as comparisons pose additional problems when the noun following than or as is the subject or object of an implied clause. Does the sentence The employees are more suspicious of the arbitrator than the owner mean that the employees distrust the arbitrator more than they distrust the owner or that the employees distrust the arbitrator more than the owner does? To clarify this, a verb must be added to the second element of the comparison: The employees are more suspicious of the arbitrator than they are of the owner or The employees are more suspicious of the arbitrator than the owner is.