abundant (of)

(A) is correct.

(B) is incorrect because the phrase "______ of resources" requires the noun form of "abundant." (B) can be made correct by changing the adjective "abundant" to the noun "abundance."

Hmm, but there're a lot google hits of "abundant of"

A popular mistake?

Are you sure? I just did a Google search for "abundant of" and everything that came up contains "abundance of." If you can provide an example or a link, I'll gladly check it out and see if I can explain what's going on.

Correction: I do see one Google hit for "abundant of," in this article title. It's definitely a mistake. In the short excerpt of the article that follows the title, you can see that "abudant" is used correctly in its adjective form.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22abundant+of%22&hl=en&sourceid=gd&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2006-44,GGLD:zh-CN

275,000 for "abundant of".

could you open that?

And here are results from nytimes:
htttp://www.google.ca/search?q=%22abundant+of%22+site%3Anytimes%2Ecom&hl=en&sourceid=gd&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2006-44,GGLD:zh-CN

This camera came with an abundant of pre-sets that would suggest great indoor picture taking.

Flashes of lightning from the approaching political storm have been abundant of late, even though action to reauthorize the expiring law is unlikely to come ...

The Governor's Voter Drive Details were sketchy but criticism abundant of a plan announced by Governor Cuomo last week to have state agencies conduct voter ...

This sentence is correct but it is different from the original ones you posted. In this sentence, the adjective "abundant" is not being used to modify the noun that comes after "of." Rather, it is being used to modify the previously mentioned "flashes of lightning." It may look like the phrase "of late" is associated with "abundant," but it isn't. "Of late" is an idiom that means "recently," and in this sentence it just happens to come directly after the word "abundant." What this sentence is really saying is, "Flashes of lightning... have been abundant recently." The sentence could just as easily have been written as "Of late, flashes of lightning... have been abundant" or "Recently, flahses of lightning... have been abundant."



This is an awkward construction and I'm not quite sure what it means. My guess is that the author is using an archaic form of writing in which the adjective comes after rather than before the noun. (This happens occassionally in English... you'll find textbooks with names like "The Body Human" rather than "The Human Body.") Thus, this sentence is similar to the previous one in that the word "abundant" is not intended to modify the noun that comes after "of." The sentence is not saying there is an abundance of plans, but rather an abundance of criticisms.



This is just a mistake.



I noticed that many of the other N.Y. Times searches include phrases like "the most abundant of _______." These are also subtly different from the original sentences you quoted. In these cases, the word "abundant" is itself being modified with the superlative "most." When you are modifying an adjective with a superlative, then it is grammatically permissible to follow it with "of + NOUN." It is correct to say "The Tyrannosaurus was the most ferocious of dinosaurs," "I can do somersaults with the greatest of ease" or "In my garden the daffodil is the most abundant of flowers." However, it is incorrect to say "The Tyrannosaurus was ferocious of dinosaurs," "I can do somersaults with great of ease," or "In my garden the daffodil is abundant of flowers." Unless you're dealing with superlatives, adjectives don't take the form of "ADJECTIVE + of + NOUN."

Thanks a million for your elaboration, Shapeless!

(PS: I can do somersaults with the morst abundance of awkwardness.