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Thread: "No less an authority"

  1. 25-Mar-2012, 16:34 #1
    TheParser
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    Default "No less an authority"

    On the "Ask a Teacher" forum, a member asked a question concerning this kind of sentence:

    "I heard the news from no less an authority than Mr. Smith."

    Would you please tell me how our two heroes would have diagrammed this toughie?

    Thanks a million!
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  2. 08-Dec-2012, 07:26 #2
    philo2009
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    Default Re: "No less an authority"

    Quote Originally Posted by TheParser View Post
    On the "Ask a Teacher" forum, a member asked a question concerning this kind of sentence:

    "I heard the news from no less an authority than Mr. Smith."

    Would you please tell me how our two heroes would have diagrammed this toughie?

    Thanks a million!
    To my mind, the sentence is elliptical for

    I heard the news from someone who was no less an authority than Mr. Smith.

    whereby AdvP 'no less' is an adjunct to 'was'.
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  3. 08-Dec-2012, 11:06 #3
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    Frank Antonson
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    Default Re: "No less an authority"

    "I heard the news from no less (of) an authority than Mr. Smith (is an authority).

    "less...than" is correlative adverb". This is what I think R-K would say. Ueff! I'm rusty!
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