non-head nominals and number agreement

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Example #1 might be (I'm not insisting on it) a blend: "There has been no shortage of stories..." + "There have been quite a few stories" (or: "...lots of stories...")
 
Gerald Cohen

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>From  Laurence Horn, Wed 7/25/2007 6:01 PM

It's standard for such constructions as "a lot of", "a number of",
etc. to take plural agreement, inidcating that the nominals in such
constructions are not heads but quantifiers (functioning essentially
like "many").  <snip>

(1)  There have been no shortage of stories about returning veterans who...

<snip>

Any thoughts (from Arnold et/aut al.)?

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