Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 19:51:10 EDT

From: Arnold Zwicky zwicky[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LING.OHIO-STATE.EDU

Subject: Re: DEG ADJ of a N



what i am about to say in print about this is that this

use of OF is presumably an extension of the rule for NPs

with quantity (rather than degree) modifiers like MORE,

LESS, ENOUGH, A BIT, in combination with singular count

nouns: MORE OF A LIAR, ENOUGH OF A LINGUIST, A BIT OF A

CHARMER.



people who have the OF A i talked about have it *exactly*

where others have modifiers with A (HOW BIG A DOG etc.).

so what i'm saying is that there is no "intrusive" OF

at all, but rather an extension of a widespread rule

for "special" modifiers of N (those that don't just

combine with bare N, but take indef.art + N): use the

"flag" OF. what i'm saying is that those of us who say

HOW BIG A DOG etc. have an extra wrinkle in our grammars;

the OF-flagged NP is what we should expect for a dependent

that combines with a full NP, but instead there is no flag.



arnold