Dorky grammar nerd is dorky

[elaby]

These are the sort of things that get caught in my brain:

In the phrase "Give me a couple extra", "couple" has a different grammatical role if you omit "of" after it. You'd have to say "Give me a couple of extra cookies" or whatever you meant to be the direct object. Why is that? When you say "Give me extra," you're using "extra" as an pronoun, like "more," am I right? I say a pronoun because that's what my dictionary tells me "more" is when it functions that way. If you add "couple" before "extra," it doesn't change extra's function, but if you add "couple of" instead, it forces extra to be an adjective. You need a noun after it to act as a direct object. What is it about "of" that accomplishes this feat?

I have the feeling that I should know this, but it's so slippery. Brain go 'splody!

In other news, I was bitten by a strange plotbunny that wants me to write a young adult story about the aftermath of (one wave of) the Saxon invasion of England, from the point of view of a girl whose Saxon father - after invading/razing/pillaging, etc. - sends for his family to come and settle in the southeast. There would also be a girl of native Briton heritage, though possibly partly Germanic so they would have a chance of speaking the same language, for her to have conflict and adventures with.

On that subject, I wanted to ask all of you brilliant people if you know of any books about the history and culture of England in the 400's-700's that would talk about what people's daily lives might've been like. I know I have some books around here somewhere about the history, strictly kings and conquerors and battles, but that doesn't tell me what people wore or ate, or how they made a living. I know there are few contemporary sources for this time period, too, so I'm not sure such a thing exists... but there's so much out there!

Remind me why I didn't get my MA in history again?

Random Holmes and Lestrade icon, BECAUSE I CAN!

Comments

[hak42.livejournal.com]

"of" is being used as "expressing the relationship between a part and a whole after a number, quantifier, or partitive noun, with the word denoting the whole functioning as the head of the phrase." Never mind, not important.

I think you are still using extra as an adjective, you are just implying the noun. Because someone who didn't know what you were talking about would still ask, "Extra what?" And you could still say, "Give me a couple extra cookies."

I think the "of" actually changes the role of "couple" and makes it a noun instead of an adjective. And that's where the definition of "of" that I struck out above actually applies. OK. That makes sense now. I think?

[elaby.livejournal.com]

OH! OMG, yes. This is so what I was trying to wrench out of my brain! Because I was trying to express something like your struck-out definition, about how it has to do with the preceding word being a number or something like that, and your explanation unraveled what I had all tangled in my head. Thank you!

[hak42.livejournal.com]

Yay! Glad to help. :)