An odd structure

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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pdh0224
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An odd structure

Post by pdh0224 »

Dear teacher,

I have seldom met a businessman who was not persuaded that inflation is produced by rising wages ― and rising wages, in turn, by strong labor unions ― and many a non-businessman is of the same mind.


Q : The structure of "many a non-....." is odd to me because the structure is "adjective(many) + article (a) + noun (non-bus..). Could you explain it?



All the best, :)
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Alan
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Post by Alan »

'Many a' is a rather literary phrasal determiner, always followed by a singular noun, and equivalent to 'many' followed by a plural noun.
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