Talk:one in a million
Latest comment: 5 years ago by Equinox in topic thousand
Part of speech
editI've changed the part of speech for the current sole entry for this phrase from "noun" to "adjective". Technically it's an adjectival phrase, but I'll let the more frequent editors decide if this should be made clear. One might be tempted to think it's a noun phrase because of the word "one", specifying "a person, place, or thing", but any use of this phrase, as far as I can see at the moment, is a qualifier or descriptor of a noun; i.e., an adjective. Consider:
- She's one in a million. (Like she's beautiful; "beautiful" is an adjective.)
- One in a million you. (From Larry Graham's 1980 hit "One in a Million You"; clearly used as an adjectival phrase.)
thousand
editChambers 1908 also has one in a thousand and one of a thousand, with the same meaning. Equinox ◑ 21:24, 5 May 2019 (UTC)