jsburbidge: (Sky)
jsburbidge ([personal profile] jsburbidge) wrote2011-01-17 01:10 pm
Entry tags:

Grammar

I have heard/seen (once heard, once seen) media writers/readers use the form "big of a" today -- once on the CBC's Metro Morning (Matt Galloway) and once in a Globe and Mail article.

When I was growing up this formation was not possible. Now I seem to run into it in supposedly non-slangy contexts all over the place. It grates really seriously.

The CBC also had someone saying "like you and I". At least that is a venerable form, even if it elicits automatic talking back to the radio.

I'm not, as such, a prescriptivist, but the "big of a" usage seems to me to be disconnected from anything else I know in English grammar. It's like saying "how white of a piece of paper is it?"


Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
(will be screened if not validated)
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting