have, of, and a

[David Colburn]

> A third, and very common, variant is "of a," as in "not so vast of a
> one."  I don't like this and always cross out the 'of' when I see it in
> writing (I accept it in speaking, though I still don't like it).  Looks
> like Clancy is hypercorrecting, perhaps from both the spoken contraction
> and the growing use of "of a."
>
As a "layman," I don't find it strange that 'one' would replace the
indefinite article *and* the noun in a phrase such as "not so vast of [a
complication]" Isn't this essentially what is happening in a use of 'one'
such as: "Did you bring a laptop?" "No, I don't have one," meaning "I don't
have [a laptop]"

I'm sure there are subtleties I'm missing here, but "not so vast of a one"
sounds weirder to my ears than "not so vast of one." I know that "a one" is
sometimes used, in phrases like "not a one," but it sounds more natural to
me in most cases to use "a" or "one" but not both.

-David Colburn