Style note

The best way to edit copy is to see whether it reads OK. If the editor stumbles -- even a bit -- then a change is probably in order.

Editors who are overly fussy about grammar seem not to realize that English is made for the reader and not the reader for English.

The grammar police know the rules, but how do those rules apply?

Take this example. Is it

i. She is five years younger than him.
or
ii. She is five years younger than he

Case i is usually taken as correct on ground that him refers to a passive, non-actor. But let's remember that implied paralellism is routine in English. What if the writer meant,

She is five years younger than he is.

He then implies "action" in the sense of ongoing existence of the male with some quality (age).

So, theoretically, both cases are correct.

Now consider someone at your door, calling out, "It is me!" But you've been taught that "It is I !" is correct.

In case i, me is a passive object, not an actor. But case ii may be correct on ground that the speaker is abbreviating "It is I speaking," in which case I is indeed one who performs an action.