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[Arnold M. Zwicky]

> On May 12, 2017, at 7:22 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I've been calling this "intrusive 'of'" for years.
> 
> In my experience - and I've been noticing for years - "intrusive 'of'" is
> now the spoken norm.

"intrusive 'of'" is a not uncommon label, but not a great one, since there's a boatload of constructions with an "of" in them that some usage critics have claimed is excrescent, intrusive, whatever.

my label +of EDM nails things down to a pair of particular constructions, EDM (Exceptional/Extraordinary Degree Marking) without (the older norm) and with (the new spoken norm) "of".

i've posted endlessly here, on Language Log, and on my blog about EDM and its variants.  here's a page with a (partial) inventory:

https://arnoldzwicky.org/linguistics-notes/edm/

and, yes, +of EDM is now the spoken norm in AmE, and is spreading into careful writing and BrE.  discussion in some of my postings.

arnold

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