We have been using DET for most quantity MWEs starting with "a", but this seems dubious: om "a bit tired" or "a bit of cake", single-word determiners cannot be substituted for "a bit". Contrast "a bit of the cake" = "some of the cake".
Maybe a better policy would be
a_bit(ADV) tired
Outside fixed expressions like "a little" and constructions like "the poor", adjectives don't usually have determiners.
a_bit(DET) of the cake
cf. "all(DET) of the cake"
a_bit of cake, a_couple of people/sheep
N? PRON?
Note that "all", "much", etc. don't precede "of" + a common noun. But: "all of Scotland"
a_little_bit should not be all together
a_ little/wee/tiny bit, a very little _bit
Frequency counts:
13 a bit
2 a bunch
11 a couple
15 a few
19 a little
1 a little bit
32 a lot
1 a number
1 each and every
We have been using
DET
for most quantity MWEs starting with "a", but this seems dubious: om "a bit tired" or "a bit of cake", single-word determiners cannot be substituted for "a bit". Contrast "a bit of the cake" = "some of the cake".Maybe a better policy would be
a_bit(ADV) tired
a_bit(DET) of the cake
a_bit of cake, a_couple of people/sheep
a_little_bit should not be all together
Frequency counts: