A Giant of a Man

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#269862 Wed, 20 Sep 06 02:31 PM

I keep asking you a question at a time as I read a book. Maybe I should look it up in dictionaries and books ....

How different is [1] from [2]? Please enlighten me. Thanks.

[1] A giant of a man was walking briskly through the gate.

[2] A giant man was walking briskly through the gate.

Hiro

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Joined on Wed, Nov 16 2005

Sendai, Japan

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JH7JHH, First Class ham radio operator. N9COW in the US.

nona the brit

#269881 Wed, 20 Sep 06 03:01 PM

1. He is a real man - just a very tall one.

2. He sounds like a giant out of a fairy tale. Is he 50' tall?

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,502)

The name says it all.

HSS

#269899 Wed, 20 Sep 06 03:32 PM

Thanks. Are there any other examples that you can think of with "a <noun A> of a <noun B>," noun A and noun B referring to the same, Nona?

Hiro

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Nouns

Jrdavis

#269905 Wed, 20 Sep 06 03:48 PM

I'm not Nona, but

"A ghost of a chance", (almost no chance at all, as if one's chance has died and left only a ghost). "Now that he has been arrested for drunk driving, he hasn't a ghost of a chance of being re-elected"

"A devil/hell of a time" (A difficult or inconvenient time). You get a phone call at 3 am "This is a devil of a time for a salescall!!"

Jrdavis

Joined on Tue, Sep 19 2006

Toroto, Ontario, Canada

New Member (26)

Native speaker of American English, somewhat ruined by academia. Now trying to learn the Canadian variety.