couple

[Mark A. Mandel]

Jessie Emerson <jessie at SIRSI.COM> writes:

>>>>>
Would it be "a couple acres" or "a coupla acres" without "hundred" inserted?
I think I would say "a couple hundred acres" but "a couple of acres."
<<<<<

I'd be comfortable with either, "a couple (of) acres", all the more so
since
 a) this is measure, not count, so the number is not a real 2 (integer) but
an approximation in any case
and
 b) I have a poor sense of just how big an acre is anyway.

   Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
          Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com