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I'm confused as whether to use an article with the second noun in structures like this (this is just an example, it's a person describing their profession):

"As a journalist and (a???) traveller...."

or,

"As a manager and (a???) teamplayer..."

There's no doubt I need the first 'a', what about the second one? Is there ANY context that doesn't suppose the usage of the second indefinite article in situations like this? Thanks so much.

Far
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    There are thousands of written instances in Google Books of as a mother and wife AND as a mother and a wife. I can't think of any context where it makes a difference whether you repeat the article or not - they're equivalent, and equally acceptable. – FumbleFingers Jun 13 '16 at 16:47
  • thank you so much! So basically my doubts were unreasonable. Lesson learnt, thank you! – Far Jun 13 '16 at 16:52
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    More formally, it's called Conjunction Reduction. A standard feature of normal English. You've already done it in your first example, since the "full" text would have been As a journalist and as* a traveller....* before reduction. – FumbleFingers Jun 13 '16 at 17:01
  • Awesome, thanks! And what if it is "That's a computer and (a) very smart machine". I don't think I can do without 'a' here, can I? – Far Jun 13 '16 at 17:49
  • That last example doesn't sound at all natural to me anyway, and it's not obvious that including or deleting the second article makes any difference to the fact that it would be an odd thing to say. More natural would be, perhaps, That's a computer - and a very smart computer [it is too!] (i.e. - switching between different nouns for the same referent doesn't seem quite right in such contexts). – FumbleFingers Jun 13 '16 at 18:11
  • Note that your (a) is less optional, not because of the intensifier or the adjective, but because of the copula (is) and the basic noun (machine; cf. machinist). – AmI Jun 13 '16 at 18:12

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