Grammar help! "A couple of . . ."

[BuckyDuckman]

I seem to drop the "of" after writing "couple" most of the time. For example, I recently wrote:

"She put a couple cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

Grammarly instantly insisted that I re-word it to:

"She put a couple of cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

To my internal ear, the first reads as well as the latter.

How poorly tuned is my inner Grammar Nazi? Should the word "of" always follow? What am I missing?

 

[SimonDoom]

I think it reads better with "of." I always use "of" in this context. If the narrative is in first person, or if the narrative is informal, I don't think it's a big deal one way or the other.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Formal writing needs 'of'.
Informally, like in dialogue or if the story is being told by a narrator, then it's fine if that's how they speak.

 

[JGittes]

I seem to drop the "of" after writing "couple" most of the time. For example, I recently wrote:

"She put a couple cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

...........................

How poorly tuned is my inner Grammar Nazi? Should the word "of" always follow? What am I missing?

I run into the same problem with Grammarly as well, and try to fight it.

I just did a quick g* search and there doesn't appear to be any wiggle room. A couple of X, is the correct usage.

A couple X is considered slang. So, as much as I agree that there are times when the slang seems perfectly acceptable, it isn't.

The exception would be if it's part of dialogue. Within the quote, it's good.

 

[NotWise]

I seem to drop the "of" after writing "couple" most of the time. For example, I recently wrote:

"She put a couple cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

Grammarly instantly insisted that I re-word it to:

"She put a couple of cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

To my internal ear, the first reads as well as the latter.

How poorly tuned is my inner Grammar Nazi? Should the word "of" always follow? What am I missing?

I often use "couple" without the "of." I think that for me it depends on the flow of the sentence.

Like Grammarly, Language Tool in LibreOffice wants the "of." When I asked it to explain, it sent me here.

That article says that leaving the "of" out is common colloquial American English, but in formal writing and in colloquial British English the "of" should be there, unless "a couple" is coupled with "more." You don't say (or write) "a couple of more ..." on either side of the pond.

 

[KeithD]

I think it reads better with "of." I always use "of" in this context. If the narrative is in first person, or if the narrative is informal, I don't think it's a big deal one way or the other.

This.

And, in this particular context, I stumble on trying to get over "a couple cucumbers."

 

[JGittes]

This.

And, in this particular context, I stumble on trying to get over "a couple cucumbers."

But, would stumbling over a couple cocks in the corner conjure the correct image.

Roosters, of course.

 

[jaF0]

I split the difference sometimes and use ' a couple'a '

"She put a couple'a cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

Or even:

"She put a coupl'a cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

I ain't sayin' it's right, just what I do cuz'n it sounds more like how people say it.

 

[KeithD]

But, would stumbling over a couple cocks in the corner conjure the correct image.

Roosters, of course.

Not for me. It would cause me tp stop and register a blip in grammar and thus disrupt the flow of the story. (Or were you expecting a laugh? I did laugh.)

 

[jaF0]

a cucumber

a coupl'a cucumbers

a few cucumbers

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

“A couple” is just an amount, right? So what causes this to be true? Is it just common usage or is there some logic behind it?

For example, the following sentence has two obvious errors in it: “I got a lot comments on my story about a few of blowjobs.” Why are both of them so specifically supposed to be worded differently when the construction looks identical?

 

[_Lynn_]

I seem to drop the "of" after writing "couple" most of the time. For example, I recently wrote:

"She put a couple cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

Grammarly instantly insisted that I re-word it to:

"She put a couple of cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

To my internal ear, the first reads as well as the latter.

How poorly tuned is my inner Grammar Nazi? Should the word "of" always follow? What am I missing?

I drop it a lot too. I read it both ways then go with what flows best. However, I question myself each time as to which is right.

 

[SimonDoom]

“A couple” is just an amount, right? So what causes this to be true? Is it just common usage or is there some logic behind it?

For example, the following sentence has two obvious errors in it: “I got a lot comments on my story about a few of blowjobs.” Why are both of them so specifically supposed to be worded differently when the construction looks identical?

The shortest and most correct answer is that it's a matter of custom and convention rather than logic. Trying to answer all questions about English usage with logic will take you down a rabbit hole that never stops going down.

But there is a grammatical answer. "Couple" is a noun, not an adjective. "Few" is an adjective. It's OK to say "A few men" but it's not OK to say "A couple men," because "couple" is not an adjective. "Couple" is not a modifier. Therefore, you need a preposition ("of") to join "couple" and "men."

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The shortest and most correct answer is that it's a matter of custom and convention rather than logic. Trying to answer all questions about English usage with logic will take you down a rabbit hole that never stops going down.

But there is a grammatical answer. "Couple" is a noun, not an adjective. "Few" is an adjective. It's OK to say "A few men" but it's not OK to say "A couple men," because "couple" is not an adjective. "Couple" is not a modifier. Therefore, you need a preposition ("of") to join "couple" and "men."

I see what you're saying, but I don't think "few" is an adjective in this instance. I think it's a noun, just like it is in the phrase "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

But yes, trying to make English logical is a fruitless endeavor. We might just need to chalk this one up to whoopsies.

 

[jaF0]

It's my feeling that 'A couple' is in the same corner as 'A group'; it's something you put/keep together.

A group cucumbers.

A group of cucumbers.

A cucumber group.

A cucumber couple.

 

[jaF0]

But yes, trying to make English logical is a fruitless endeavor.

Are cucumbers fruits or vegetables?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

But you can say 'Few men are willing to indulge with a couple of cucumbers', but not 'Couple men will enjoy a few curcurbits'

I was going to quibble with the suggestion that British English never accepts 'a couple cucumbers' but decided if it does, it's the influence of American TV and my family, and 'a coupla' or 'a couple o' cucumbers' would be more likely.

 

[SimonDoom]

I see what you're saying, but I don't think "few" is an adjective in this instance. I think it's a noun, just like it is in the phrase "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

But yes, trying to make English logical is a fruitless endeavor. We might just need to chalk this one up to whoopsies.

"Few" is usually an adjective. In the phrase "A few men" "few" is an adjective that modifies the noun "men."

Your example is an instance of the nominalization of an adjective. That means using an adjective as a noun.

Another example would be "The land of the free. The home of the brave." "Free" and "brave" are normally adjectives, that would be used to modify nouns like "men." But in the example I gave (the national anthem of the USA) they are used as nouns. But those are literary, non-standard uses. They're perfectly fine in prose or poetry, but they don't change the fact that usually those words, like "few", are adjectives.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

In the phrase "A few men" "few" is an adjective that modifies the noun "men."

I wholeheartedly agree with everything except this, and I even halfheartedly agree with this. It's just such a thin, gray line...

 

[SimonDoom]

I wholeheartedly agree with everything except this, and I even halfheartedly agree with this. It's just such a thin, gray line...

Not sure what the gray line is. It's pretty clear.

"A few men" is the same, grammatically, as:

The green bush

A happy clown

A rowdy crowd

An article, an adjective, and a noun.

No doubt about it, "few" can be used as a noun, as in King Henry V's Crispin's Day speech, where he says,

"We few. We happy few. We band of brothers."

But in the example I've given it's definitely an adjective, and every dictionary you look up will describe "few" as being principally an adjective.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Not sure what the gray line is. It's pretty clear.

I’m just not sure that adding the “a” doesn’t make this one of the few times that few is a noun. And if it doesn’t, then why doesn’t it?

Edit: Because if you don’t have an object for the supposed adjective to modify, then I feel confident that it’s acting as a noun. For examlme, you could say “There are a few here” just like you could say “There are a lot here”

 

[NotWise]

The shortest and most correct answer is that it's a matter of custom and convention rather than logic. Trying to answer all questions about English usage with logic will take you down a rabbit hole that never stops going down

This rabbit whole didn't seem all that deep.

According to Merriam-Webster, "a couple of" is an idiom. Its meaning doesn't depend on the meaning of the constituent words. If you leave off the "of" it's no longer the idiom.

I think it's similar to "a pair of," but "a pair of," implies that the objects are the same, rather than linked but potentially different.

"Couple" in the sense closest to what we're talking about here means "two linked people or objects." In that sense, and without putting it into the idiom, you could say (for instance) "The vegetables were organized into couples," or "A couple waited at the door."

I suppose this is also idiom; if I use "a couple" without "of," I just mean "two."

 

[Handley_Page]

I seem to drop the "of" after writing "couple" most of the time. For example, I recently wrote:

"She put a couple cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

Grammarly instantly insisted that I re-word it to:

"She put a couple of cucumbers inside a brown paper bag."

To my internal ear, the first reads as well as the latter.

How poorly tuned is my inner Grammar Nazi? Should the word "of" always follow? What am I missing?

I think 'of' points to whatever the object is.

 

[KeithD]

Are cucumbers fruits or vegetables?

Yes, I think so.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

“A couple” is just an amount, right? So what causes this to be true? Is it just common usage or is there some logic behind it?

For example, the following sentence has two obvious errors in it: “I got a lot comments on my story about a few of blowjobs.” Why are both of them so specifically supposed to be worded differently when the construction looks identical?

But wouldn't it sound better if it was...

“I got a lot comments on my story about a few of the blowjobs.”

When I read it I had to stop after the 'of' and insert 'the' in my mind.