Main Cases of the use of the Indefinite Article

The Indefinite Article has the following meanings:

1. nominating meaning (we give a name to the object we have in mind):

eg. It’s a bus (not a car).

2. numeral meaning (= the meaning of oneness):

eg. I have a son and a daughter.

3. generalizing meaning (when the noun is used in a general sense and denotes a typical member of class. The article has the meaning of “every”):

eg. A hungry man is an angry man.

4. in the plural no article is used:

eg. Cats are domestic animals.

The Indefinite Article is used:

1) to denote something which has not been mentioned before:

e.g. I’ve just seen a car coming up a driver. There’s a spider in the bus.

2) denotes a noun belonging to a class. It has the meaning of “какой-то”, “один”, “некий”:

eg. It’s a teenager novel (not for grown-ups).

3) in apposition (приложение):

eg. His aunt, an old woman of 56, was also present there.

4) in exclamatory sentences after WHAT, SUCH, RATHER, QUITE:

eg. What a nice girl!

Plural nouns take zero article: eg. What nice girls!

5) with nouns denoting time, measure, weight and with numerals: hundred, thousand, million, dozen, score:

e.g. A week has passed. The case weighs a hundred pounds. We go there twice a fortnight.

6) in the construction “there is / was” and after “It is… This is….” with a singular countable nouns:

eg. There is a book on the table.

7) with professions, trades, occupations: eg. He is a lawyer.

8) in expressions of frequency: e.g. twice a week; fifty pounds a day.

9) to denote two things that are often mentioned together as though they are one thing: e.g. a knife and fork; a cup and saucer.

10) to denote somebody’s name when we don’t know the person:

e.g. There is a Mr. Wilkins to see you.

11) with ordinal numerals in the meaning of «ещё один»: e.g. a second cup of coffee.

The Indefinite Article is used in some set expressions:

The Article

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1070