I teach ministry to grad students and have noticed a usage creeping into spoken and written submissions lately which I want to correct. My problem? I don't know what to call the problem nor how to describe its fix.
The objectionable usage I hear/read with increasing frequency is the insertion of the word "of" in comparative descriptions. A student wrote recently for example, that "she is as good of a preacher as anybody in the class." I have been hearing this a lot in the last year or two. "I'm just as smart of a student as he is." "This is as hard of a job as I've ever had." -- and so on.
I want my students to leave out the "of" here but need a way to describe why it's wrong (or at least infelicitous and ineffective), and a rule of thumb for helping them to avoid such usage in the future.
Can you help? Is there a website I can consult? Many thanks for any wisdom you can offer.
Hi Dan, and welcome to the forum.
I've also noticed that curious and incorrect use of "of" lately … actually for a few years now. The word "of" is a preposition with 20-some shades of meaning and usage. See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/of
But it is a preposition, and thus has no business in a noun phrase. Well … there might be some exceptions. Even grad students can get pretty sloppy with the language. I'd suggest sending your students to that link, noting how it's a superfluous term (in the contexts you cite).
There's many other words that have also crept into overuse. "That" comes to mind. Maybe you should just tell your students to use Occam's Razor when reviewing their written work. Tell them to ask whether the word really adds anything to the sentence, whether it's clear without that word, and to get rid of it if doesn't really add meaning?
I'm not a language teacher. Just a tech writer. Others may jump in with more wisdom and experience than I bring to this question.
There is a difference -- the 'of' is a way to hedge attaching the attribute to the subject.
she is as good a preacher as anybody in the class
she is as good of a preacher as anybody in the class
The first sentence presupposes she is a preacher.
The 2nd allows that she may not be a preacher yet (still a student), but asserts that as far as being preacher is concerned, she is good as any.
RobertB said:
There is a difference -- the 'of' is a way to hedge attaching the attribute to the subject.
she is as good a preacher as anybody in the class
she is as good of a preacher as anybody in the class
The first sentence presupposes she is a preacher.
The 2nd allows that she may not be a preacher yet (still a student), but asserts that as far as being preacher is concerned, she is good as any.
This explanation may be correct, or not, but in my experience this is not people's logic when they use this phrasing. Also, it would not explain the other two examples given: job and student.
I strongly suspect that there is widespread misunderstanding of this kind of construction. People do not see these constructions as simple transformations of:
She is a good preacher. + (as good as anybody in the class) = She is as good a preacher as anybody in the class.
I'm a smart student. + (as smart as he is) = I'm as smart a student as he is.
This is a hard job = (as hard as any[job] I've ever had) = This is as hard a job as any I've ever had.
The general misunderstanding is also very clear in (real) examples with slightly more complex adjective phrases:
How good of a looking car … ? (should be: How good looking a car …)
… too fast of an acting drug … (should be: … too fast acting a drug … )
… as good of a natured smile … (should be: … as good natured a smile … )
… that well of a dressed guy … (should be: … that well dressed a guy … )
Notwithstanding the intriguing nature of a "looking car" and an "acting drug," I must perform the mental editing. I wonder if a discussion of beautiful, expensive drinking glasses might elicit the question "How good of a looking glass do we need?"
By the way, these are generally termed as "degree phrases" and "degree-modified adjectives." The process of placing the adjective before the a/an is called "degree inversion." There is another form called "negative inversion." They are introduced often by degree words such as that, how, too, so, as.
There is mention of the "optional of" in this CUNY paper: Negative Inversion and Degree Inversion in the English DP (Note: DP is Determiner Phrase)