Main points
You only use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with singular count nouns.
You use ‘a’ or ‘an’ to talk about a person or thing for the first time.
a) You only use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with singular count nouns. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are called the indefinite article.
- I got a postcard from Susan.
- He was eating an apple.
Remember that you use ‘a’ in front of a word that begins with a consonant sound even if the first letter is a vowel, for example ‘a piece, a university, a European language’. You use ‘an’ in front of a word that begins with a vowel sound even if the first letter is a consonant, for example ‘an exercise, an idea, an honest man’.
b) You use ‘a’ or ‘an’ when you are talking about a person or thing for the first time.
- She picked up a book.
- After weeks of looking, we eventually bought a house.
- A colleague and I got some money to do research on rats.
Note that the second time you refer to the same person or thing, you use ‘the’.
- She picked up a book… The book was lying on the table.
- After weeks of looking, we bought a house… The house was in a village.
c) After the verb ‘be’ or another link verb, you can use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with an adjective and a noun to give more information about someone or something.
- His brother was a sensitive child.
- He seemed a worried man.
- It was a really beautiful house.
You can also use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with a noun followed by a qualifier, such as a prepositional phrase or a relative clause, when you want to give more information about someone or something.
- The information was contained in an article on biology.
- I chose a picture that reminded me of my own country.
d) You use ‘a’ or ‘an’ after the verb ‘be’ or another link verb when you are saying what someone is or what job they have.
- He became a school teacher.
- She is a model and an artist.
e) You use ‘a’ or ‘an’ to mean ‘one’ with some numbers. You can use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with nouns that refer to whole numbers, fractions, money, weights, or measures.
a hundred a pound a thousand a dollar a quarter a kilo a half a litre
f) You do not use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with uncount nouns or plural nouns. You do not need to use a determiner at all with plural count nouns, but you can use the determiners ‘any’, ‘a few’, ‘many’, ‘several’, or ‘some’.
- I love dogs.
- Do you have any dogs?
- Many adults don’t listen to children.
- I have some children like that in my class.
Note that if you do not use a determiner with a plural count noun, you are often making a general statement about people or things of that type. For example, if you say ‘I love dogs’, you mean all dogs. However, if you say ‘There are eggs in the kitchen’, you mean there are some eggs. If you do use a determiner, you mean a number of people or things but not all of them, without saying exactly how many.
- I have some friends coming for dinner.
- He has bought some plants for the house.
- I have some important things to tell him.
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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A - Part B
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See also:
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