Plurality isn’t simply a matter of morphology.  Partitive expressions like “a couple”, “a pair”, etc. have plural meaning even though they take the singular determiner that collectives commonly have.

 

Herb

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:13 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Two Questions

 

If 'couple' in "a couple of apples" is plural, how do you explain the singular determiner ('a')? 'A' means "one," I believe, and is therefore singular.

 

Paul

----- Original Message ----
From: Alison Cochrane <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 11:34:43 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Two Questions


FYI

 

A couple of... and a couple are also two different parts of speech.  A couple of is a quantifier which is an adjective.  A couple is a noun. 

 

There are a couple of apples.  This is plural because couple of modifies apples which is plural.

 

There is a couple.  As a noun, couple is singular because it is a collective noun.

 

Alison

 

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