"A little bit of.."

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.

Is it wrong to omit "of" in my sentence?
"Add a little bit of salt".

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, it's wrong. You could say "Add a little salt."

 

[Yankee]

Yes, it's wrong. You could say "Add a little salt."

Wrong? Well maybe, but not unusual. In fact in spoken AmE it would typically be, " Add a little bitta salt."

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, wrong. What you have said still includes the word "of," no matter how much it's slurred.

 

[GoesStation]

Wrong? Well maybe, but not unusual. In fact in spoken AmE it would typically be, " Add a little bitta salt."

"Bitta" a common way to say "bit of" in American English. It doesn't omit "of"; it just pronounces it differently.

 

[Tarheel]

I agree with Yankee. Just off the top of my head it seems to be a pretty common usage.

 

[GoesStation]

Is it wrong to omit "of" in my sentence?
"Add a little bit of salt".

Wrong? Well maybe, but not unusual. In fact in spoken AmE it would typically be, " Add a little bitta salt."

I agree with Yankee. Just off the top of my head it seems to be a pretty common usage.

Yankee's statement was incorrect. It's always wrong to omit "of" in Rachel's sentence. It's fine to slur its pronunciation, but that's not what Rachel was asking about.

 

[Yankee]

Yankee's statement was incorrect. It's always wrong to omit "of" in Rachel's sentence. It's fine to slur its pronunciation, but that's not what Rachel was asking about.

As for being "incorrect" and omitting "of" I was referring to the usual/common pronunciation for "bit of" (bitta) in that context, in which case one would not hear the precise pronunciation of "of". If one were to be verbally correct and without "crunching" words, certainly "of" would be correct.

 

[Tarheel]

Hello.

Is it wrong to omit "of" in my sentence?
"Add a little bit of salt".

If I had been the first to reply I might have said:

If you delete "of" delete a bit more.


Add a little salt.
Add a bit of salt.
Add a little bit of salt.

(Google those, and tell me what you get.
)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I agree with Yankee. Just off the top of my head it seems to be a pretty common usage.

I don't. Advising Rachel to use bitta is highly misleading.

Sometimes we say "bit o' salt." But that's short for "bit of salt," which is how it's written. This is the only time I've ever seen anyone write "bitta."