the spread of adjective-licensed "of"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 1/21/08 10:52:51 AM, preston at MSU.EDU writes:


> You have reason Ron, as Troy Aikman revealed yesterday in the not
> very surprising "Had they not of done..." with a very clearly
> articulated "of." When it's a schwa, we might assume a "double
> perfect " (Had they not have done...."), but the full form shows that
> "of" is indeed becoming a verbal particle.
>
>

I wasn't talking about the verb, I was talking about the preposition that
comes between the adjective and the noun, as in "How big of a retirement income
do you need?" as per Larry Horn's original posting.


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