Christine.
I suspect the "a couple people" expression arose in speech through the loss of schwa after the syllabic /l/ of "couple". The schwa resulted from the reduction of "of", a very common phenomenon. "Couple of", as a partitive is plural, just as "a pair of" is, but "couple", like "pair", behaves also as a singular noun.
I don't have a problem with "went missing". I think it's on the model of "went flat", "went sour", etc., just using the present participle as an adjective. There are, however, other patterns of verb plus present participle, like "needs fixing". There's a paper in the latest Lund University Working Papers in Linguistics, by Junichi Toyota, that deals with the latter variety and touches briefly on other such constructions. You can find it at http://www.englund.lu.se/images/stories/pdf-files/workingspapers/vol06/Toyota_06.pdf
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Christine Gray
Sent: Mon 9/25/2006 8:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Two Questions
Can anyone help me with these two questions from one of my students.
I replied that "couple" can be either singular or plural depending on the
context and then gave her some examples. But the "couple of" I don't know
about.
Also, I told her that "went missing" has always sounded awkward to me. But
I hear it so frequently-is it correct?
See her questions below.
Thank you,
Christine Gray
Should we say, "a couple of people" or "a couple people?" I'm never sure
whether or not to put in the "of."
And, couple is plural, right? "There are a couple of days when I can't help
you."
Or is "a couple" singular? "There is a couple standing on the corner."
Secondly,
I hear newscasters say "went missing." Is that correct? For example,
Natalie Holloway in Aruba: news people say, "She went missing last summer."
I'm making up that example, but I heard it again on TV a few days ago.
Thanks!
Diane
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