ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Buying a home at auction is not for the faint of heart.

the faint of heart 等不等於 the faint heart? 為什麼要在多加一個of ?

Elisa 解答 :

the faint (n.) of heart = the faint (adj) heart.

Prepositional phrases generally act as complements.  (Complement of a noun phrase) 介系詞片語通常用作名詞片語的補語

For example:

A student (n.) of physics (n.)

The faint (n.) of heart (n.)

The act (n.) of violence (n.)

The thought (n.) of betray (n.)

In this case, you can change it to “the faint heart”, as “faint” is both a noun and an adjective.  For other examples above, you are unable to change.

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