One of the challenging features in the classification of of-binominals is distinguishing between the syntactically very similar forms. Therefore, Chapter 2 presents a variety of diagnostic tests in order to tease apart the constructions in the evaluative binominal noun phrase family. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview and discussion of the tests used in previous studies resulting in the following classification criteria: head status (Noun 1 or Noun 2), constituency tests, constraints on the selection of the two nouns, determiner selection restrictions, and the status of the preposition of. These tests are then used to classify all six of the of-binominals addressed in this study.

The classification criteria in Chapter 2 are now applied to the final three evaluative of-binominals. The evaluative binominal noun phrase (an egg of a head) is an of-binominal construction in which the first noun ascribes a property to the second. The second noun is head, and the construction exhibits a number of noncanonical syntactic features, e.g. the first determiner has scope over the whole construction, a restricted second determiner, and irregular premodification patterns. The evaluative modifier (a whale of a time) is a new of-binominal that I propose. In the evaluative modifier, the first noun has completely decategorizated and functions as a part of the [N1 of a] chunk that denotes speaker evaluation of the referent denoted by the second noun. Furthermore, I argue that this construction needs to be distinguished from the EBNP. Finally, in the binominal intensifier (a beast of a good read), [N1 of a] functions as an intensifier or booster, modifying the gradable adjectives that follow. This study demonstrates that this final construction is much more prolific than previous research has shown.

In this chapter, the classification criteria described in Chapter 2 are applied to the first three of-binominals in order to detail the formal and functional properties of each construction. The first construction is the prototypical N+PP (a whale of the north). This category represents an amalgamation of of-binominals all of which share syntactic features that could be regarded as characterizing canonical of-binominals in English, e.g. the first noun is the head, and the second noun is part of an NP embedded in a prepositional phrase functioning as a post-modifier. The second is the little researched head-classifier (a beast of prey). In this construction, the prepositional phrase qualifies the first noun; the second noun does not refer to a discourse referent and instead classifies noun1. This study distinguishes between two types of head-classifiers: taxonomic and intrinsic head-classifiers. The last construction is the pseudo-partitive (a cup of coffee). In this of-binominal, the second noun is head, and the first noun is a relational noun that measures/quantifies or indicates the shape of the second noun.