a-an

nado92 · Mar 11, 2010

.She would like to go somewhere for........ dinner given to welcome a guest.
a - an - the - no article

Thanks in advance

Anglika · Mar 11, 2010

Tell us which you think is best.
.

nado92 · Mar 11, 2010

Anglika said:
Tell us which you think is best.
.

I think no article is the best.
But a friend of mine says we use a if there is an adjective before the meal.
Would you please explain that?

Mzungu39 · Mar 11, 2010

I 'vote' for no article

euncu · Mar 12, 2010

I think, "dinner given to welcome a guest" part necessitates the dinner to be defined. So, I'd use "the" if the one to whom I spoke knew about the dinner or use "a" if it wasn't known by the one to whom I spoke. I'd use no article if the sentence was "She would like to go somewhere for dinner". And, "an" is out of the question.

nado92 · Mar 12, 2010

euncu said:
I think, "dinner given to welcome a guest" part necessitates the dinner to be defined. So, I'd use "the" if the one to whom I spoke knew about the dinner or use "a" if it wasn't known by the one to whom I spoke. I'd use no article if the sentence was "She would like to go somewhere for dinner". And, "an" is out of the question.

Hi , my friend;
The rule says we don't use articles before meals.
The problem ,here,is that someone told me we can put a or an.
So I wanted someone to explain.
Thanks

mmasny · Mar 12, 2010

nado92 said:
Hi , my friend;
The rule says we don't use articles before meals.
The problem ,here,is that someone told me we can put a or an.
So I wanted someone to explain.
Thanks

But that someone, as I understand, told you that we put 'a' before it when there is an adjective before the meal's name.
She would like to go somewhere for a festive dinner given to welcome a guest.

By the way, I would delete 'given' in this sentence.

I am not a teacher.

nado92 · Mar 12, 2010

mmasny said:
But that someone, as I understand, told you that we put 'a' before it when there is an adjective before the meal's name.
She would like to go somewhere for a festive dinner given to welcome a guest.

.

ٌRight,I said so.
I was waiting someone to assure that.And now you assured it.

Raymott · Mar 12, 2010

This requires 'a/the dinner' because it's referring to either a specific dinner ('the dinner'), or a specific type of dinner ('a dinner to welcome a guest'). An adjective is not necessary - or you could consider 'to welcome a guest' as an adjectival phrase.
'given' is optional.

nado92 · Mar 12, 2010

Raymott said:
This requires 'a/the dinner' because it's referring to either a specific dinner ('the dinner'), or a specific type of dinner ('a dinner to welcome a guest').
'given' is optional.

Please explain more with examples.
Thanks in advance.

IHIVG · Mar 12, 2010

Raymott said:
'given' is optional.

Wouldn't it change the meaning slightly? Without 'given' it's not specified what was the occasion of this dinner and it's as though she is going there to welcome a guest, and with 'given' it sounds more like this dinner was given for a particular reason (i.e. to welcome a guest).

Nightmare85 · Mar 12, 2010

In order to make it a little less difficult:
It cannot be an ;-)

Cheers!

ShoOoSho89 · Mar 12, 2010

Hi,
Could someone kindly explaine when can we use these articles and when we don't?? in details please
Thanks in advance

Nightmare85 · Mar 12, 2010

ShoOoSho89 said:
Hi,
Could someone kindly explain[STRIKE]e[/STRIKE] when we can [STRIKE]we[/STRIKE] use these articles and when we can't [STRIKE]don't??[/STRIKE] in details(,) please?
Thanks in advance

If you say can you should stick with it.
(That's why don't is wrong.)

A = When we talk about countable things.
Give me an apple, please!
(You could also say one apple or two apples.)

An = When we talk about countable things + when the next word begins with a spoken vowel.
I would like to have an answer.
(One answer, two answers, etc.)
He needs an hour to finish his project.
(He could also need two hours.)
Important: An hour because you spell [our]

The = We refer to something.
I saw the man with the nice car.
(Not every man has a nice car, so you talk about a specific man.)
We will go to the cinema.
There are lots of cinemas.
You go to a specific one.

No article:
I go to school.
You are a normal pupil who goes to school.

P.S. I hope most of this is correct :-?

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

Edit
Small correction - changed the can't to can in my 1st sentence.

Cheers!

Raymott · Mar 12, 2010

IHIVG said:
Wouldn't it change the meaning slightly? Without 'given' it's not specified what was the occasion of this dinner and it's as though she is going there to welcome a guest, and with 'given' it sounds more like this dinner was given for a particular reason (i.e. to welcome a guest).

Yes, you're right. It would introduce that ambiguity.
In the original sentence without any context, you should put 'given' in. I only mentioned that because mmasny suggested it, and grammatically, you don't need 'given'.
The important thing, though, in answer to the original question, is that you must use 'a' or 'the'.

Raymott · Mar 12, 2010

Nightmare85 said:
If you say can you should stick with it.
(That's why don't is wrong.)

A = When we talk about countable things.
Give me an apple, please!
(You could also say one apple or two apples.)

An = When we talk about countable things + when the next word begins with a spoken vowel. Yes, a vowel sound.
I would like to have an answer.
(One answer, two answers, etc.)
He needs an hour to finish his project.
(He could also need two hours.)
Important: An hour because you [STRIKE]spell[/STRIKE] say [our]
Another example, we say 'a uniform' because we say [a yuniform]
'uniform' doesn't begin with a vowel sound.

The = We refer to something specific.
I saw the man with the nice car.
(Not every man has a nice car, so you talk about a specific man.)
We will go to the cinema.
There are lots of cinemas.
You go to a specific one.

No article:
I go to school.
You are a normal pupil who goes to school.

Yes, it's mostly correct, but very basic. For example, it doesn't even explain what article to use on the original thread question.
But it's a big question, and the basic answer has been given numerous times on this site and on the web. Probably none of them give all possible circumstances.
Search for: articles grammar English

nado92 · Mar 12, 2010

Thanks all.
But I am still lost.
what will we use no article or an?
In other words
I ate bread for breakfast.
I ate bread for the breakfast.
I ate bread for a big breakfast.
Please correct them.

Raymott · Mar 12, 2010

nado92 said:
Thanks all.
But I am still lost.
what will we use no article or an?
In other words
I ate bread for breakfast.
I ate bread for the breakfast.
I ate bread for a big breakfast.
Please correct them.

The answer to your question has already been given.
Why don't you use what you've been given, and come up with your own answer, with explanations.
Which of the above are correct and why?

nado92 · Mar 12, 2010

Raymott said:
The answer to your question has already been given.
Why don't you use what you've been given, and come up with your own answer, with explanations.
Which of the above are correct and why?

The first
Thanks
I said before the rules says we don't use articles before meals like this'
I ate bread for breakfast.
My question again can we put a or an or the between for and the meal?
Thanks in advance
sorry for bothering you.

Nightmare85 · Mar 12, 2010

Please use a normal font size.
It really starts to annoy me.

I would not put anything between for and meal.
I ate bread for meal.

Cheers!

a-an

Member

No Longer With Us (RIP)

Member

Junior Member

Senior Member

Member

Key Member

Member

VIP Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

New member

Senior Member

VIP Member

VIP Member

Member

VIP Member

Member

Senior Member