"So big a house"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 9, 2007, at 6:52 AM, Joe Salmons wrote:

> ... For me, it's distinctly spoken
> usage -- in any writing beyond informal email I'd probably use
> 'such a'.

depending on context, "such a big house" has an ambiguity not present
in "so big a house".  "so big a house" has quantity "so", modifying
"big", used, for example, in consequence constructions ("It was so
big a house that it took us three hours to walk through it") or as an
intensifier ("I've never seen so big a house" 'I've never seen a
house that big').  "such a big house" can have these quantity
readings for "such" (again, modifying "big"), but it can also have a
sortal reading, modifying the whole following NP: 'a big house of
this sort, a big house like this one'.  (cf. "Such a man would do
anything to succeed")

i'm not a fan of ambiguity avoidance as a reason for choosing one
construction over another *across the board*, but in certain contexts
you might want to go for "so big a" rather than "such a big".

arnold

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