S
*Sarah*
Member
Arabic
- Jan 6, 2020
- #1
Hello everyone,
I have questions about the use of indefinite articles in sentences.
Should I use an article before every word in the list, bearing in mind that the word is singular and coutable?
1-He has a long face, a straight nose, and a small mouth.
Or
2-He has a long face, straight nose, and small mouth.
And do the following sentences seem to be correct and parallel?
3-She has got blonde hair, an oval face, and a straight nose.
4-She has got blonde hair, oval face, and straight nose.
5-He has got a long face, short hair, a straight nose, and big eyes.
6-He has got a long face, short hair, straight nose, and big eyes.
7- He is a comedian and an actor.
8-He is a comedian and actor.
Thank you.
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Jan 6, 2020
- #2
All of those examples are much better with all the articles. And you should use has, not has got.
S
*Sarah*
Member
Arabic
- Jan 6, 2020
- #3
lingobingo said:
All of those examples are much better with all the articles. And you should use has, not has got.
Thank you very much four your answer.
With regard to "have got", I thought that in British English people use have got instead of have.
Regards,
Keith Bradford
Senior Member
Brittany, NW France
English (Midlands UK)
- Jan 6, 2020
- #4
I don't disagree with LIngobingo, except to point out that 4 is quite wrong; because the first item (blond hair) can't have an article, you
mustuse one on the second item (an oval face).
S
*Sarah*
Member
Arabic
- Jan 6, 2020
- #5
Keith Bradford said:
I don't disagree with LIngobingo, except to point out that 4 is quite wrong; because the first item (blond hair) can't have an article, you
mustuse one on the second item (an oval face).
Thank you for all you replies.
So, it's better to use an indefinite article before every item. If not, we use the article only before the first item, which is singular and countable, in the list. Am I right?
entangledbank
Senior Member
London
English - South-East England
- Jan 6, 2020
- #6
It is common to use only one article if the things belong together closely: a knife and fork, a table and chair, for example.
taraa
Senior Member
Persian
- Jan 6, 2020
- #7
entangledbank said:
It is common to use only one article if the things belong together closely: a knife and fork, a table and chair, for example.
Interesting. Thank you so much!
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Jan 6, 2020
- #8
As Keith points out, 4 doesn’t work at all as you have it. This is because the first item is uncountable, so needs no determiner, but the second and third are countable, so they do. On the other point, it is absolutely
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Jan 6, 2020
- #9
entangledbank said: It is common to use only one article if the things belong together closely: a knife and fork, a table and chair, for example.
Related examples, using other determiners:
She picked up her coat and bag, and left.
Pass me that bucket and spade, please.
Would you like some fish and chips?
S
*Sarah*
Member
Arabic
- Jan 15, 2020
- #10
Thank you for your contributions.
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