The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article is used in the following functions: classifying, generic and numerical.

 

1) Classifying.

In this function the article serves to refer an object to the class or group of objects of the same kind. The article has the meaning of the indefinite pronoun some:

Somewhere a telephone began to ring.

I saw a speck in the distance. It was a boat.

The door opened and a girl entered.

The noun preceded by the indefinite article in its classifying function may be accompanied by premodifying and postmodifying descriptive attributes:

I’ve read a very interesting novel.

This is a novel which is very suitable for staging.

He was a man who travelled a lot.

Marion came out of the garden, wearing a very old garden shirt.

2) Generic (any, every).

In this function the indefinite article implies that what is said about one representative of the class (a thing, animal or a person) can also be said about other representatives of this class. The indefinite article in its generic function has the meaning of a ny, every:

A crane is a tall bird with a very long neck and beak.

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines.

A library is a collection of books.

A complex sentence has two or more clauses.

In this function the indefinite article is used in proverbs and sentences expressing some general truth:

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

A hungry man is an angry man.

3) Numeric(al)

In this function the indefinite article preserves its original meaning of the cardinal numeral one:

I won’t say a word.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

The idea of oneness is evident with nouns denoting time, distance, measure: a hundred, a thousand, a minute, a day, an hour, a year; after the negative not — not a word, not a thought.