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I'm a common non-English speaking person, who gets into English and cognitive linguistics.

I find some adverbs like "so", "as", and "too" precede articles, as follows

  1. It is a very common error.
  2. It is a extremely noisy city.
  3. It is as red an apple as blood.
  4. This is so good a question.
  5. It is too expensive a desk for a child's room.

Most adverbs just stand in the middle of the noun phrase like [a (very common) error]. However, "so", "as", and "too" escape with adjective! like [(too expensive) a desk] (even though it sounds formal or rare, and these adverbs are often used with only adjective)

And I think there must be a linguistic reason ;) Syntactically, semantically, or any way..

I looked for books, papers, and any materials, but I couldn't find explanation for this.

I was wondering what is the power for them to escape!

You can just recommend a book or a paper if it's too long to talk here.

Thank you for your help, and if it's explained I would sleep in peace :))

Englishy
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    Well, calling them adverbs won't help. So and such are parts of a determiner construction, the so/such ... that S construction. Such goes before noun phrases and so goes elsewhere. So is also used alone as an intensifier (I'm so tired), often stressed. As is used in many idioms, and it's part of the equative as ... as ... construction (as red as a rose); used alone, it works like an adverb form of be (It's being used as a flowerpot). Many of your sentences are incorrect in the idioms and constructions used. There are a lot of little details. – jlawler Aug 21 '22 at 22:14
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    #3 is completely ungrammatical to me – needs to be “It is an apple as red as blood” to be grammatical, but even then it’s highly unidiomatic. #4 is borderline ungrammatical (should be “That is such a good question”), but can be made grammatical by the addition of a second clause: “This is so good a question that I don’t think anyone can answer it” (though ‘such a good question’ or ‘this question is so good that…’) would still be more natural. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 21 '22 at 22:38
  • @jlawler but how about "This isn’t as unusual a construction as you think," which is said by a native speaker? – Englishy Aug 22 '22 at 12:24
  • What about it? It's grammatical and meaningful. Is there something to object to? – jlawler Aug 22 '22 at 14:59
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    @jlawler oh sorry I tagged you by mistake.. I should've tagged Janus... Cuz he said #3 is ungrammatical though "This isn't as unusual a construction as you think" is grammatical as you say. – Englishy Aug 22 '22 at 17:38

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