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Which sentences below would more formal ?
1) He is closer to me than my brother
2) He is closer to me than my brother is
3) He is closer to me than my brother close to me.
I wonder especially third one. If I want to write full sentence Should I write the third one?
It is optional to include or exclude a parallel structure in a comparison
He is closer to than my brother is close to me
may be shortened to
He is closer to me than my brother is
which may in turn be shortened to
He is closer to me than my brother.
Notice that, in the wordiest version, the comparative clause is identical except for the degree of the adjective: "close" is not in comparative degree. But "closer than" implies "close" in the comparison.
But a structure that is not parallel cannot not be omitted.
He is closer to me than my brother used to be close to me
can be shortened only to
He is closer to me than my brother used to be.
Your final version is wrong because it omits the verb from what is a clause.
1) it is an example of informal usage; 2) formal usage. 3) wrong syntax. There is a mistake in the grammatical syntax in the third variant, because it is obviously indefinite semantically. Semantic uncertainty of some kind is a feature of any informal usage. If the context and pragmatics are precisely defined in some communication and understood by the participants in communication, then an informal usage does not impede such a communication. The third option is an obvious example where the context is undefined.
Compare:
(*) He is closer to me than my brother (is) close to me.
He is closer to me than my brother (is, who is) close to me (too).
