indefinite article
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English
Noun
indefinite article (plural indefinite articles)
- (grammar) A word preceding a noun to indicate that the noun refers to any member of the class of objects named by the noun.
- 1884, Napoleone Perini, “On the Use of the Indefinite Article”, in An Italian Conversation Grammar, page 98:
- The English Indefinite Article, "a" or "an", is more frequently used that the Italian Indefinite Article, "un", "uno", "una".
- 1921, Harry Egerton Ford, “Part II. Morphology”, in Modern Provençal Phonology and Morphology:
- In the indefinite article, we must note the plural in i, due to the influence of the plural li of the definite article[.]
- 2018, Kory Stamper, Word by Word, page 28:
- The main literary dialect of ancient Greek ... has a definite article, but no indefinite article.
Usage notes
- In English, this term can be represented as a (before a consonant sound) or an (before a vowel sound) in the singular; in the plural, an indefinite article isn't used at all.
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Translations
word preceding a noun to indicate any member of the class of objects