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I'm drafting a letter of invitation for someone. And one sentence goes: "I am [the / an] owner of a bookstore" - which article shall I use?

Eddie Kal
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Danny
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    While either is correct, they have a different feel to me somehow. I don't have a clear grammatical reason for this, but my intuition with hearing the owner is that the conversation will be about the you, however hearing an owner I would expect the following conversation to be about the store. Perhaps it has something to do with specificity... maybe someone else can elaborate / debunk. – brichins Jun 28 '19 at 03:54
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    The simplest solution: "I own a bookstore." – alephzero Jun 28 '19 at 10:44
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    @brichins, oddly enough, my instinct is exactly the other way around. :-) – Harry Johnston Jun 29 '19 at 00:02

4 Answers4

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If the bookstore you own has only one owner (you), then, "I am the owner of a bookstore." is correct.

If there are other owners of that bookstore (i.e. you are a co-owner), then you should say, "I am an owner of a bookstore."

The indefinite article, "a" is for one among other(s), and the definite article "the" is for naming one when there are no others.

Lorel C.
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    Although an can also be used if you're the only owner too. "I am an owner of a bookstore, among other owners of bookstores" – Smock Jun 27 '19 at 15:28
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    @Smock Good point, but I think "I am a bookstore owner" would be more natural in that case. – Acccumulation Jun 27 '19 at 15:53
  • @Acccumulation and indeed you could have "I am the bookstore owner" too (although as Lorel C states, only if you're the sole owner) – Smock Jun 27 '19 at 16:07
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    @Smock However, that one is much more dependent on context. You can only say that you're the bookstore, if there's an implied bookstore (for example by standing inside it while saying it, or mentioning the bookstore earlier). Without an implied specific bookstore, there is definitely more than one owner, so then you can't say the owner. – Jasper Jun 28 '19 at 08:00
  • Exactly - and there's not enough context in the OP to decide which is most appropriate in this case. – Smock Jun 28 '19 at 08:19
  • Does the "I am the owner of a bookstore" make sense? – Erbureth Jun 28 '19 at 12:35
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    @Erbureth Yes. There are lots of bookstores in the world. I am only talking about one of them, so it is "a" bookstore. But it only has one owner (me), so I am "the" owner of "a" bookstore. Just like "the governor of a state" makes sense, or "the roots of a tree", "the wings of a dove", etc. – Lorel C. Jun 28 '19 at 13:47
  • @LorelC. I'd argue that if you are the owner, you are already talking about a specific bookstore, so it would be the bookstore. "The roots of a tree" and "the wings of a dove" would make sense in some context. – Erbureth Jun 28 '19 at 14:32
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    "Dear Ms. Le Guin, my name is Paul, and I am the owner of the bookstore, and I would like to let you know that your books are very popular." Would that make sense to the recipient of that letter? Wouldn't Ms. L G say, "the bookstore?...What bookstore?" – Lorel C. Jun 28 '19 at 14:50
  • @LorelC. "Dear Ms. Le Guin, I am responding to your complaint about Acme Bookstore Ltd.'s management. My name is Paul and I am the owner of the bookstore...". Could you give me some context where "I am the owner of a bookstore" makes sense? – Erbureth Jun 28 '19 at 14:58
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    "Dear Ms. Le Guin, my name is Paul, and I am the owner of a bookstore in Alberta, Canada. I would like to let you know that your books are very popular here in Alberta ..." Why does "the roots of a tree" make sense, but "the owner of a bookstore" not? – Lorel C. Jun 28 '19 at 15:18
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Erbureth Jun 28 '19 at 15:21
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    I doubt that many native speakers would make that distinction in speech. "I'm the owner of a red cabriolet" = "I own a/the red Cabriolet" = "I am the owner of the red Cabriolet". If there is more than one owner, I'd say "I am one of the owners of the red Cabriolet [that is parked outside]" – Mari-Lou A Jun 29 '19 at 06:48
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It depends on context.

If you are talking about a particular bookstore then it depends on whether you are the sole owner or a part owner. If you are the only owner of that bookstore:

I am the owner of a bookstore

if you and other people jointly own it:

I am an owner of a bookstore

These fragments would likely then contain more specific information about that particular bookstore, for example: I am the owner of a bookstore located in Main Street ...

If you are talking about yourself:

I am an owner of a bookstore

This is correct if you are the sole owner. If you and other people jointly own it, you would say something like: I am a part-owner of a bookstore. In this case the remainder of the sentence would likely contain information about you, for example: I am an owner of a bookstore who thinks small businesses are unfairly taxed.

mcalex
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  • Agree. It would depend on if the name of the bookstore is already mentioned prior to the sentence in the question. –  Jun 28 '19 at 06:53
  • For instance, if the OP already mentioned before the sentence in the question, like, "Well there is a bookstore called XXXXX on the street YYYY in a city ZZZZ", then "I am the owner of the bookstore", but if the OP only says "Hello, TTTT" I think "I am an owner of a bookstore" sounds fine to me. –  Jun 28 '19 at 07:01
  • @KentaroTomono correct. I didn't add variants based on whether the bookstore should have a definite or indefinite article as OP was only interested in the article before 'owner'. – mcalex Jun 28 '19 at 08:35
  • Thank you for your comment to a non native speaker. This is only my guess though, I think OP would probably want to say "I am an owner of a bookstore" just to introduce himself...though who knows exactly... –  Jun 28 '19 at 08:56
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    In British English, at least, If you are the sole owner, it should be "I am the owner of a bookstore", and if you own it jointly, either "one of the owners" or "part-owner" or perhaps just "the owner" if the co-ownership doesn't really matter in context. Using "an owner" is not idiomatic, IMO. – Harry Johnston Jun 28 '19 at 22:38
  • @HarryJohnston I'm afraid I can't so much understand what you try to say by "idiomatic". Simply, OP is drafting an invitation letter, right? I'm very much confused why people here are arguing about the ownership things. –  Jun 28 '19 at 23:35
  • @KentaroTomono, I mean to say, using "an" here sounds strange to a native speaker. – Harry Johnston Jun 28 '19 at 23:51
  • @HarryJohnston I guess Alex_under under here would be a native speaker. But he is only speaking about the indefinite "an". Yes, right, I am a non native, so there can't be almost anything to say correctly, but the "opinions" seem to be divided even between native speakers. –  Jun 28 '19 at 23:54
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    @Kentaro, yes, it may be one of those things that varies from place to place, I probably shouldn't have said anything. At any rate, the example sentence in the post above, "I am an owner of a bookstore who thinks small businesses are unfairly taxed." definitely isn't wrong, it just sounds a bit awkward. In some cases there might not be any better way to put it. – Harry Johnston Jun 29 '19 at 00:01
  • @Harry Johnston Yeah before asking this question on this forum, I was inclined to say "I am the owner of a bookstore". Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I lived in NZ for several years. – Danny Jun 29 '19 at 14:32
  • @Danny could you possibly finish off your invitation sentence (to provide the needed context)? This might help with my explanation and I could give a more precise answer for this situation. – mcalex Jun 30 '19 at 13:51
  • @mcalex Yeah sure - "I am [the / an?] owner of a bookstore located in Shanghai." This is just a sentence to introduce himself by mentioning his occupation, which has nothing to do with the purpose etc. of the invitation letter. – Danny Jun 30 '19 at 14:23
  • OK, so you are referring to a particular bookstore (my first scenario) in which case it's the if he owns the bookshop entirely and an if he shares ownership. – mcalex Jun 30 '19 at 19:03
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If you introduce yourself by mentioning your occupation (what I am):

I am an engineer.

A step towards your example:

I am a bookstore owner.

The article 'a' above defines the noun 'owner'. Next step (considering it's still about your occupation, not a particular store):

I am an owner of a bookstore.

Alex_ander
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  • "I am a POTUS"? – Cœur Jun 28 '19 at 08:22
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    @Cœur: "I am a president, but I am the POTUS". "a" applies in cases where the designation is not uniquely identifiable. There is more than one bookstore owner in the world. There is more than one president. There is only one POTUS, unless you are speaking historically in which case "a POTUS" is vaild. E.g. Is there a POTUS who smoked cigars in the Oval Office? – Flater Jun 28 '19 at 08:43
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    @Cœur "I was a POTUS" or "I am a former POTUS" or "I want to be a POTUS when I grow up" are perfectly OK. This is different from the bookstore, because at any moment in time there can only be one POTUS, so the indefinite article isn't appropriate when referring to the present time. – alephzero Jun 28 '19 at 10:42
  • You go wrong with your next step. I am one of many bookstore owners, so "a" is correct, as you say. However, in your third example, the article in question goes before "owner of a bookstore", so the choice of article depends on whether or not you are the sole owner of whichever bookstore you are talking about. Your second and third examples differ in that in this third one you are now talking about the store as well as yourself. So if you are its sole owner, you need "I am the owner of a bookstore". – Rosie F Jun 28 '19 at 14:35
  • I think it depends on context. If you introduce yourself in that invitation letter with intention to show your bookstore, the fact you own the whole shop matters; it doesn't matter if you introduce yourself before inviting a lady to the theatre. – Alex_ander Jun 28 '19 at 15:12
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Like most things, it depends on context.

As most of the other answers have pointed out, if you are the only owner of the bookstore, you'd normally say "I'm the owner of a bookstore." If you jointly owned it, you'd normally say "I'm an owner of a bookstore." Having said that, most people you're talking to probably don't care whether you're a sole owner or joint owner, so "I'm the owner of a bookstore" is mostly going to be OK even if there are other owners. Most of the time, all you need to do is linking the concepts of "I", "bookstore" and "owner".

But there are also cases where you might use "an owner", even if you're the only one. Suppose, for example, that you wanted to go to a trade fair for bookstore owners. At the door, the security guard says to you, "I'm sorry only bookstore owners can come in." You might respond "But I am an owner of a bookstore!" The point here is that you're saying you're a member of the category "bookstore owners" and you're not the only member of that category, so "a" is more appropriate. Even in this case, "But I am the owner of a bookstore!" would be fine – you're focusing on your bookstore, rather than bookstores in general, and the meaning is still "I own a bookstore, so let me in."

David Richerby
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