English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [indefinite-article]

An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun.

The two indefinite articles in English are "an" and "a". Use this tag for questions about the usage or meaning of these words.

See the Wikipedia page on articles for more information.

See also

758 questions
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a joyous and restful three days -- a three days?

Example: After a joyous and restful three days, I left this beautiful city. Although it still kind of sounds weird to my ears, I know that when a noun, even though in the plural, is used to mean a certain amount or quantity of something,…
Michael Rybkin
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"he has piano class" or "he has a piano class"?

In one English text book I saw "He has piano class at 5 o'clock" and somebody told me that that was a mistake meaning that indefinite article should precede the word "piano" in that sentence.
brilliant
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Why is "in the shape of ellipse" ungrammatical?

This is a TOEFL question: The orbit of a celestial body is usually in the shape of ellipse. The solution says that the word "ellipse" is ungrammatical, but I don't know why. I think that word is not wrong, and doesn't need to be corrected. Can…
Sirinat Paphatsirinatthi
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"a second attempt" or "the second attempt"

Definite article: Use the before superlatives and ordinal numbers. Education First This is the third time I have called you today. But I found the following sentence in UPS website. And the "a second attempt" expression is commonly used. I…
Shannak
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6
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Why does the name of this book have ‘a’ in it?

Hermione whispered, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) I think the name of the book would be better with ‘the’ instead of ‘a’, because the book is about…
Listenever
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6
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Which is correct: "a html game" or "an html game"?

Which is correct: "a html game" or "an html game"? I think that "a html game" is correct, cause "a game" is definitely correct. But "a html" sounds somehow crooked.
Fakt309
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a spectacular vs an spectacular

Is it: a spectacular movie or it is said: an spectacular movie I'm writing a book in English but I'm Latino so I might need some help with this, I'd appreciate it a lot
RodrigoM
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5
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2 answers

Usage of the indefinite article with the word "previous"

We dealt with this in a previous chapter. Am I right supposing that the indefinite article used with the word "previous" means "in one of the previous chapters, not necessarily in the chapter that is directly before the one we are going to read…
Yulia
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Indefinite article with color: a brindled grey

Is there any explanation for using indefinite article before color or is it wrong? I've encountered several sentences: The general colour of the wild-cat is a brindled grey, with black stripes. His hair is a light blue. The new plaster is light…
user1564855
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articles before numbers

1. Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan 2. A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History These are the titles of books. I would like to ask why the indefinite article is used before the number. When omitting the article…
bart-leby
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4
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2 answers

Using the indefinite article before "space"

I have a problem with my exercise's sentence from Thomson & Martinet's textbook Ex. 1: 1 Articles: a/an 7) A person who suffers from claustrophobia has a dread of being confined in a small space, and would always prefer stairs to lift. I can't…
dekross
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a jack of all trades is [a] master of none

I'm wondering why the indefinite article "a" is not in the standard version of the proverb: A jack of all trades is [a] master of none. I'd appreciate your help.
Apollyon
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Why is the phrase "a hell of" or "one hell of" always followed by "a"?

Here's some examples of the phrase "a/one hell of a" from a dictionary: ‘They have asked Santa for bikes because they have a hell of (a lot of) cycling to do.’ ‘Assuming we get any takers at all in this mad scheme, it should be a hell of (a lot of)…
JK2
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Use of indefinite article with chained nouns combining singular and plural forms

Which sentence is correct? 1. Get a team's iterations 2. Get team's iterations I think it's 2. My reasoning is: "team's iterations" is a noun group where "team's" is an adjective to the noun that is plural, and indefinite articles are not used with…
Leon
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Articles in the sentences

Yesterday, I received an email from Sun Jay, a sales manager of Panasonic, the leading manufacturer of robotics arm in the United Kingdom, on the status of the visit of our client to his factory. Please comment on the article usage of above…
Raheel Bari
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