indefinite article: a and an
1. We use the indefinite article, a/an, with count nouns when the hearer/reader does not know exactly which one we are referring to:
Police are searching for a 14 year-old girl.
2. We also use it to show the person or thing is one of a group:
She is a pupil at London Road School.
| Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday. Jenny Brown, a pupil at London Road School, is described as 1.6 metres tall with short blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a blue and white blouse and dark blue jeans and blue shoes. Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800349781. |
3. We do not use an indefinite article with plural nouns and uncount nouns:
She was wearing blue shoes. (= plural noun)
She has short blonde hair. (= uncount noun)
|
Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday.
|
4. We use a/an to say what someone is or what job they do:
My brother is a doctor.
George is a student.
5. We use a/an with a singular noun to say something about all things of that kind:
A man needs friends. (= All men need friends)
A dog likes to eat meat. (= All dogs like to eat meat)
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Hi,
I'm a newbie :)
Do we use "a" or "the" in the sentence below?
It's not as good _____ car as I expected.
And why?
team
Hi Zetax,
The correct sentence is 'It's not as good a car as I expected.' For me, the reason is that you expected a generic car of a specific standard, rather than one car in particular.
However, I'd suggest that the best way to learn it is as a semi-fixed expression: '...as <adjective> a <noun> as...' That allows you to make sentences like 'She was as intelligent a child as I'd ever met.'
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello everyone please note important things in this lesson has been missing!
in use of (an)
an come before indefinite name which start with vowels[a,e,i,o,u]
for example: 'an old building' -or- 'an incredible idea'.
____________________________________________
And also by a:
a girl, a bench. the first letter of name g-for girl, and b for bench is consonant
team
Hello,
We are currently working on improving the grammar and I will add your suggestion to the list of ideas!
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have read the rules of using a/an and the on this website. They are very useful to me. Thank the website's editors very much! However, there is a circumstance where a and the can also refer to all meaning, which I have not understood yet. I wonder whether these following sentences are similar in meaning or not:
A dog likes to eat meat.
Dogs like to eat meat.
The dog likes to eat meat.
If there are any differences between them, please explain that to me.
Thanks a lot!
qiaoying
there are a quiet differences between these three sentences. A dog likes to eat meat.Means usually dogs like to eat meat.it shows the nature of dog.
next one Dogs like to eat meat.
there are so many dogs and they all like to eat meat.
The dog likes to eat meat.
there is some particular dog like to eat.
team
Hi Qiaoying
You have brought up a very tricky issue here. Firstly, I am not a linguist and so my answer might be completely wrong, but this is how I've explained this to my students in the past:
Sometimes, we talk about nouns in a general sense. This is usually when we are talking about our attitudes towards things (Do you like dogs?) In this case, we are not talking about a specific dog, and so we don't use an article and pluralise the noun.
In special cases, we want to talk about the idea of a noun, or archetypal nouns. For animals, this means the species. For machines, the invention. If you think about the way an invention has changed people's lives, you are thinking about the idea of that invention, not actual instances of that invention. Here are some examples:
The mobile phone has revolutionised the way we people communicate.
The domestic dog is a sociable animal.
The mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex roamed the Earth millions of years ago.
In each of these cases, you could use plural forms without an article, but the tone would be less formal and it might sound like your opinion.
"The dog is a sociable animal." I am a zoologist.
"Dogs are sociable animals." I have a pet dog.
As I said, it's a tricky issue. If I haven't explained it very well, please let me know.
Jack
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Jack,
Many thanks for your clear explanation!
Best wishes,
qiaoying
team
You're welcome.
i like it too