Search results for "indefinite article"

The article a(n) in English quantifying expressions: A default marker of cardinality

2020

Certain English quantificational expressions feature what appears to be an indefinite article, e.g. 'a bunch, a few, a hundred'. These can be divided into three types of quantifying expressions: pseudopartitives ('a lot, a bunch, a ton'), article-requiring quantifiers ('a few, a couple, a hundred'), and article-free quantifiers ('three, many, several'); article-free quantifiers have an article under certain circumstances, e.g. modification by an adjective ('a surprising 30 …'). While standard analyses would take the article in these expressions to be a D head, it is argued here that the article is not in D, nor is it singular or count, as evidenced by its (lack of an) interaction with verba…