More Than

[Darryus]

Dear Teachers,


What part of speech is the phrase "more than"?

 

[Rover_KE]

Please write at least a full sentence.

 

[Darryus]

Hi, thanks for the response.

This is the full sentence, " I have got more than one snake"

 

[PaulMatthews]

I have got [more than one] snake.

It is two separate items: "more" is a degree determiner and "than" is a preposition heading the PP "than one" functioning as complement to "more". The whole bracketed constituent is a determiner phrase (DP).

 

[GoesStation]

Am I right to guess that PP stands for "prepositional phrase"?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it is a prepositional phrase because 'than' is a preposition.

 

[TheParser]

What part of speech is the phrase "more than"?

NOT A TEACHER

Here is some information that may interest you.

"I didn't have a [one] dollar."
"I didn't have more than a [one] dollar."

In the opinion of four scholars, "more than" is an intensifying adverb that intensifies the noun phrase "a dollar."

*****

This is ONLY my thinking:

"I have a snake."
"I have one snake."
"I have more than one snake."

"More than" is an adverb that intensifies "one snake."


Source: Quirk, et al., A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985 edition), pages 449 -450.