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The partitive measure noun construction
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A partitive measure noun like soad lot is non-referential and not concrete. It exclusively and directly refers to a measure, to quantity. A partitive measure noun construction consists of the following elements from left to right:

  1. A partitive measure noun
  2. A noun of content description

In the example below, the first noun soad lot is the measure noun and the second noun flikken chocolates is the content noun:

1
In soad flikken
a lot chocolate.drops
A lot of chocolate drops

The measure noun soad lot does not preserve its concrete, referential meaning in the partitive construction, unlike a referential noun like doaze box, as it does not refer to a concrete object or form. It merely expresses that a high quantity of something is involved. Hence it is referred to as an abstract measure noun.

Three types of measure nouns may be distinguished, depending on their meaning. The type of measure noun affects the properties of the construction as a whole.

Measure nouns have restricted possibilities of modification. They do not determine the number of the construction as a whole.

Content nouns in the quantificational partitive construction have restricted possibilities of modification, but they determine the number of the construction as a whole.

Some nouns are ambiguous between a measure noun reading and a referential reading.

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