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INDEFINITE ARTICLE

INDEFINITE ARTICLE. In English grammar, the term for a and an when used to introduce a noun phrase: a cup of coffee or an angry reply. A occurs before consonant sounds (a garden, a human, a use) and an before vowel sounds (an orange, an hour, an uncle, an MP, an SOS). An is sometimes used before certain words beginning with an h, such as an hotel, an historian, particularly if the h is not pronounced. Some, however, pronounce the h, giving rise to controversy and being regarded by some others as slightly pretentious or precious. See ARTICLE, H.

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	The layered DP; form and meaning of French indefinites.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 8/1/2008; 123 words ; ...complexity and ever wider in extent, Ihsane (U of Geneva.) narrowed her focus here to indefinite noun phrases with the indefinite article and their plural forms. She also examines determiner-less nominals interpreted as du/des-noun phrases as a subset of bare... Read more
	Composite Predicates and idiomatisation in Middle English: a Corpus-based approach (1).(Statistical Data Included) Magazine article from: Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies; 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...considered: 1. Definite article the. 2. Indefinite article a. 3. Possessive adjectives. 4. Demonstrative...determiner, distantly followed by the indefinite article, quantifiers and the definite article...of noun phrases determined by the indefinite article may reflect a tendency ... Read more
	Some of my favorite squares. Magazine article from: Word Ways; 5/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...the Victoria University (New Zealand) magazine Cappicade. The clues are: Across 1. First letter of the alphabet. Down 1. Indefinite article. A similar square using the letter 'I was published as an 'Easy Crossword' in the 1980 book based on the BBC cult comedy... Read more
	The articles in English (1).(LINGUISTICS)(a and an) Magazine article from: Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies; 1/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...number and case inflections. The definite article had evolved from a demonstrative. There was nothing corresponding to indefinite article . No class of articles was recognised for Latin, nor for Old English. Modern English (NE) has the, which developed from... Read more
	Everyday people.(Short Takes)(Movie Review) Magazine article from: Cineaste; 9/22/2004; ; 324 words ; ...all of them too complex and unpredictable to be easily stereotyped. They range from Erin (Sydnee Stewart), a naive, slightly pretentious hip-hop poet and her tough talking corporate exec mother, Betty (Iris Little Thomas) to Akbar (Reg E. Cathey), a theatrical... Read more
	Les Bons Contes et les bons mots de 'Gil Blas'.(Book Review) Magazine article from: The Modern Language Review; 1/1/2004; ; 476 words ; ...tu' form, and verbs such as 'repondit', 'repliquai', 'repartit', 'poursuivit', etc.), and the unusual frequency of the indefinite article, 'un' (the author points to its use to designate something or someone as yet unknown, which, as he explains, is a 'situation... Read more
	Panhandling.(MARCH 2)(Brief article) Magazine article from: Sojourners Magazine; 3/1/2008; ; 253 words ; ...the Pharisees, and the rest of us do not see. According to writer Wes Howard-Brook, the lack of either a definite or indefinite article in the Greek indicates that the protagonist is not only a man born blind but also humanity, blind from birth. Blind humanity... Read more
	(book reviews) Magazine article from: African American Review; 12/22/1993; ; 700+ words ; ...with different poets each time. Perhaps this book might have been more appropriately called A Jazz Poetry Anthology, the indefinite article being more well-suited for this impressionistic and unsettled class of poetry. Many of the poets included have performed... Read more
	Goldsmith as translator of Voltaire.(Oliver Goldsmith) Magazine article from: The Modern Language Review; 10/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...Imagine [...] a house'). Goldsmith has a separate sentence, and adds a new verb: 'I am so suited', but he keeps Voltaire's indefinite article 'with an house', thereby creating uncertainty and confusion. What house, the reader wonders? If Goldsmith had substituted... Read more
	A friend of my mother('s): on the use of genitive vs. common case in postmodifying of-phrases. Magazine article from: Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies; 1/1/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...below). By choosing the post-genitive we can combine elements which are mutually exclusive. The head is introduced by the indefinite article, a demonstrative determiner, or a quantifier; a plural head noun may occur in the zero form: (4) a friend of my mother... Read more

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	indefinite article Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...implies that the thing referred to is nonspecific (as in she bought me a book ; government is an art ; he went to a public school ). Typically, the indefinite article is used to introduce new concepts into a discourse. Compare with definite article . Read more
	ARTICLE Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ...definite article , and a/an , the indefinite article . Functions The definite article...singular with the definite or indefinite article and the plural with the zero...non-specific relations, the indefinite article is used with singular countable... Read more
	article Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...object, typically one of a specified type: small household articles. 2. a piece of writing included with others in a newspaper...one outlining a single rule or regulation: [as adj. ] Article 7 of the treaty. 4. Gram. see definite article , indefinite article . • v. [ tr. ] (usu. be ... Read more
	definite article Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...Gram. a determiner ( the in English) that implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned, or is common knowledge, or is about to be defined (as in the book on the table ; the art of government ). Compare with indefinite article . Read more
	an Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English an / an / • adj. the form of the indefinite article (see a ) used before words beginning with a vowel sound. Read more

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