or (STRONG ALTERNATIVE)

Point 31 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as:

alternative questions using an extreme alternative to give greater pragmatic force.

This grammar requires manual interpretation, so it is not really something we can automatically find in corpora. There is only one example in the EGP (the fact that there is only one means it is rare!) which we might try to follow the form of:

Is_VBZ this_DD1 new_JJ industry_NN1 a_AT1 blessing_NN1 for_IF the_AT region_NN1 or_CC the_AT exact_JJ opposite_JJ ?_?

But a search in iWeb for the following code is almost pointless:

or _A _JJ * ?

1 OR A BAD THING ? 362

  The Hill
The new race to the moon: the Artemis Alliance vs. the Sino-Russian Axis
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
2 OR A BAD ONE ? 94
3 OR A BAD IDEA ? 80
4 OR A LOVED ONE ? 77
5 OR A DIFFERENT ONE ? 67
6 OR THE SURROUNDING AREA ? 45
7 OR A BAD GUY ? 36
8 OR A LOYAL ALUM ? 36
9 OR A SMALL ONE ? 35
10 OR THE REAL THING ? 33
11 OR THE REAL DEAL ? 32
12 OR A NEW ONE ? 31
13 OR THE BAD NEWS ? 26
14 OR A RELATED FIELD ? 26
15 OR A BAD WITCH ? 25
16 OR THE OTHER ONE ? 24
17 OR AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR ? 23
18 OR THE WHOLE THING ? 23
19 OR YOUR LOVED ONES ? 23
20 OR YOUR LOVED ONE ? 22
21 OR A GOOD THING ? 22
22 OR THE MIDDLE EAST ? 22
23 OR EVERY OTHER DAY ? 21
24 OR THE NEW ONE ? 20
25 OR A SPECIAL EVENT ? 20
26 OR THE BLUE ONE ? 20
27 OR THE OLD ONE ? 19
28 OR A FULL-TIME STUDENT ? 18
29 OR A USED ONE ? 18
30 OR THE OTHER ? ? 18
31 OR THE NEW TESTAMENT ? 17
32 OR A SHORT ONE ? 16
33 OR A LARGE ONE ? 15
34 OR A FLAT FEE ? 15
35 OR A NEW CAR ? 15
36 OR THE RIGHT SIDE ? 14
37 OR THE GENERAL PUBLIC ? 14
38 OR AN EARLY BIRD ? 14
39 OR A MOBILE APP ? 14
40 OR A NEGATIVE ONE ? 13
41 OR A USED CAR ? 12
42 OR AN OLD ONE ? 12
43 OR A SIMILAR ONE ? 12
44 OR A NEW BEGINNING ? 12
45 OR A BAD SIGN ? 11
46 OR NO BIG DEAL ? 11
47 OR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ? 11
48 OR AN INVIGORATING MASSAGE ? 11
49 OR THE LIKE ) ? 11
50 OR YOUR FINAL DESTINATION ? 11

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