Prepositional Phrase

[Cooklava]

She made a lot of friends at her new school.

Is "lot" the direct object in this sentence? And, is the prepositinal phrase "of friends" functioning adjectivally by modifying "lots"?

I appreciate your help.

[IvanV]

Neither is ''lot'' the direct object, nor does ''of friends'' modify ''lot''... :?
And, why ?

[susiedqq]

She made five friends.

She made many friends

She make a lot of friends.

(in this case, "a lot of" is just a quantity)

[IvanV]

(in this case, "a lot of" is just a quantity)

By all means!

[susiedqq]

Oops!
I am wrong -

It is:

she/made/lot
a/
of / friends

[Cooklava]

Thank you for your replies, but I'm still left wondering about the sentence.

She made a lot of friends.

Are you saying that a-lot-of functions as one unit (sort of like an adjective: many friends)? If that is the case, then is friends the direct object?


Okay, thank you. I think I just found what I was looking for. So, a lot of is informal, and one should avoid using it, instead use many.

[Buddhaheart]

She made a lot of friends at her new school.

Is "lot" the direct object in this sentence? And, is the prepositinal phrase "of friends" functioning adjectivally by modifying "lots"?

I appreciate your help.

I think the noun ‘friends’ or the noun phrase ‘a lot of friends’ is the DO (direct object) of ‘made’ and the prepositional phrase "of friends" functions adjectivally by modifying the substantive ‘a lot’.

‘A lot’ is formal; ‘lots’ is not and should be avoided in written English.

[Buddhaheart]

Thank you for your replies, but I'm still left wondering about the sentence.

She made a lot of friends.

Are you saying that a-lot-of functions as one unit (sort of like an adjective: many friends)? If that is the case, then is friends the direct object?


Okay, thank you. I think I just found what I was looking for. So, a lot of is informal, and one should avoid using it, instead use many.

As suggested, one might indeed look at ‘a lot of’ as one semantic unit (~ many) functioning grammatically as an attributive adjective of ‘friends’.