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Old 12-11-2011, 04:46 AM   #12
HarryT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Robinson View Post
Using the preposition, 'of' after 'couple' is grammatically correct. You'll never get into trouble if you use it, but you might if you don't. Dialogue is a different matter. Some people drop it in their everyday language (though not in the UK) but in written form it should be there.
Here are a few examples from MR:

Quote:
I've tried the last couple days...
One day when I removed a couple apps...
It also worked fine with a couple arbitrary Calibre-generated ePUBs...
I just ordered mine a couple days ago...
It happened a couple weeks back...
So it would seem that omitting the preposition when referring to time is a particularly common phenomenon.

I was wrong, by the way, in saying that in British English, "couple" must always be followed by "of", because I also found this:

Quote:
A couple more points...
which would be absolutely fine in British English (indeed, it would be wrong to put "of" in there).
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