Apedia

I Nouns She's Indefinite Article ə Eɪ Man/Horse/Unit

Word3 a
WordType (indefinite article)
Phonetic /ə/ /eɪ/
Example
  • a man/horse/unit
  • an aunt/egg/hour/x-ray
  • i can only carry two at a time.
  • there's a visitor for you.
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Content

a

(indefinite article)/ə/ /eɪ/
  1. used before countable or singular nouns referring to people or things that have not already been mentioned
    • a man/horse/unit
    • an aunt/egg/hour/X-ray
    • I can only carry two at a time.
    • There's a visitor for you.
    • She's a friend of my father's (= one of my father's friends).
  2. used to show that somebody/something is a member of a group or profession
    • Their new car's a BMW.
    • She's a Buddhist.
    • He's a teacher.
    • Is that a Monet (= a painting by Monet)?
  3. any; every
    • A lion is a dangerous animal.
  4. used before uncountable nouns when these have an adjective in front of them, or phrase following them
    • a good knowledge of French
    • a sadness that won’t go away
  5. used in front of two nouns that are seen as a single unit
    • a knife and fork
  6. used instead of one before some numbers
    • A thousand people were there.
  7. used when talking about prices, quantities and rates
    • SYNONYM per
      https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/per
    • They cost 50p a kilo.
    • I can type 50 words a minute.
    • He was driving at 50 miles an hour.
  8. a person like somebody
    • She's a little Hitler.
  9. used before somebody’s name to show that the speaker does not know the person
    • There's a Mrs Green to see you.
  10. used before the names of days of the week to talk about one particular day
    • She died on a Tuesday.

    Word Origin

    • Middle English: weak form of Old English ān ‘one’.
Copyright This card's content is collected from the following dictionaries: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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