Timeline for How to understand the noun phrase "a touch heavy-handed"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
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| Sep 25, 2023 at 5:51 | comment | added | vsz | I suggest adding an example to the answer, for an alternative way to express the same thing, as the OP seemingly misunderstood the entire structure. It has nothing to do with touching anything, or any kind of touch. It's the same as writing "If this chapter on hyphens has seemed slightly heavy-handed you might consider... " | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 16:31 | comment | added | BillJ | @Peter-ReinstateMonica Never trust dictionaries for grammar, especially M-W, a dinosaur of a dictionary that has failed to keep up with the classification of words. M-W are absolutely wrong about this. "Little" is clearly a degree determinative in "I have little money", and "a little" is a complex paucal determinative in "I have a little money". In both cases the deterninative is functioning as a determiner. The complex form can also function as a modifier (as opposed to a determiner) , as in "He answered a little indiscreetly", as can "a touch" as in the OP's example. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 14:30 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @BillJ This is a bit out of my grammar comfort zone -- but I note that M-W carries "a little" as an adverb, just like "a bit" but unlike "a touch". Obviously, language is evolving, and this use of "touch" may have become more popular "recently" (in terms of dictionary writing times). At least, I find it "modern". | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 14:17 | comment | added | BillJ | @Peter-ReinstateMonica I take "a touch" to be like the indisputable complex determinative "a little". Compare "I was a touch hasty" ~ "I was a little hasty". Note that although determinatives usually function as determiners, some of them can also function as modifiers. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:56 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @BillJ Ah, I see that FriendlyRaccoon made that point as well, although they seem to include "a touch of" in the adverbial uses. M-W categorizes bit in " a bit of a rascal" as a noun. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:50 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @BillJ I'm tempted to declare a touch in constructions like this one ("a touch <adjective>") an adverb. Usage, meaning and derivation from a noun is exactly parallel to the adverb "a bit" ("a touch heavy-handed" = "a bit heavy-handed"). This is to be distinguished from all the examples given in the dictionaries which use "a touch of something", where touch is used as a noun. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:42 | comment | added | Ethan Bolker | @BillJ Nice to hear from a grammarian. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:36 | comment | added | BillJ | "A touch" is best analysed as a complex determinative functioning here as modifier. of the compound adjective "heavy-handed". | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:26 | history | edited | Ethan Bolker | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:25 | comment | added | Ethan Bolker | @user253751You're probably right. I'll edit my answer. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 13:08 | comment | added | Ethan Bolker | @user253751 I thought about that. In this case I think "heavy-handed" works as the noun object of the sentence. I might be wrong about that since I haven't studies formal grammar since about 8th grade many years ago. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 12:13 | vote | accept | Mr. Wang | ||
| Sep 25, 2023 at 7:29 | |||||
| Sep 23, 2023 at 23:14 | vote | accept | Mr. Wang | ||
| Sep 23, 2023 at 23:16 | |||||
| Sep 23, 2023 at 19:51 | comment | added | Lambie | a touch, a little, a bit | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 19:16 | comment | added | Ethan Bolker | The noun is "heavy-handed" (the object of the verb "seemed:, The adjective "touch" precedes the noun. That's like the sentence "I seem to be a little sleepy today." | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 19:01 | comment | added | Sam | Where is Noun after indefinite article "a"? | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 16:08 | history | edited | Ethan Bolker | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 23, 2023 at 16:02 | history | answered | Ethan Bolker | CC BY-SA 4.0 |