In a message dated 9/25/06 10:33:31 PM, [log in to unmask] writes: > It seems to me that 'couple' is singular in both expressions ("a couple" = > only one grouping of two in either case). In conversation, people often drop > the "of" in "a couple of Xs," but I think the preposition is really required > all the time. > Good questions, Christine. I think Paul is right when the couple is really a "couple," a unit of two, a grouping, as he puts it. But we often use couple to mean several. "There are a couple of mistakes in this email." Here these mistakes are not a "unit" or a "grouping" and so I would think couple is plural when used this way. Surely, no one would say "There is a couple of mistakes in this email." The New York Times style manual allows both singular and plural senses, and goes on to "outlaw" phrases like a "couple pomegranates." Peter Adams To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/