"> a) A camel can carry heavy loads.
An engagement should come on a girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.
b) It was the first spring day.
Schumann was the composer he liked best.naming an object the speaker sometimes implies that any other representative of the class would do. Thus the indefinite article approaches to any in meaning:. G. Then he said: «1 know it« s not so easy for a woman to refuse a gift. » Under the circumstances a normal girl would be heartbroken.not Betty.boy «s first toy is very important. It colours his whole afterlife.the indefinite article acquires the additional meaning of a certain, which is also closely connected with its main function:. G. But James obscurely felt that he was committed to a line of action and must go through with it. «You» re pretty confident up to a point, aren »t you?» he asked.other additional meanings of the indefinite article are less important, as they are not often found and their use is, in the main, restricted to certain patterns and set phrases.indefinite article always implies the idea of ??oneness and it sometimes becomes quite prominent. The indefinite article is then said to be used with numeric force. It occurs in the following cases:
a hundred, a thousand, a minute, a mile, etc.;
after the negative not: not a word, not a trace, not a thought, etc.;
in some set phrases: one at a time, at a draught (as in: heemptied his glass at a draught), a stitch in time saves nine, etc.
In certain patterns and set phrases the indefinite article acquires the meaning of the same, as in: are much of a size.are of an age.of a feather flock together.the following pattern the indefinite article is said to acquire distributive force: once a month, twice a week, three times a year, etc.should be pointed out that all the above mentioned additional meanings of the indefinite article result from its main nominating function and from the meaning of oneness which is always implied with countable nouns. Depending on the context those meanings may or may not be expressed by the article. Sometimes more than one additional function finds its expression in the sentence. Thus in I am a teacher the classifying and the communicating meanings are clearly seen; in He bought a book indefiniteness is expressed along with the communicating function.it is only the nominating function alongside of the idea of ??oneness that is always uppermost when the indefinite article is associated with countable nouns.
. With uncountable nouns, the indefinite article serves to bring out a special aspect of the notion expressed by the noun. In this case its function may be called aspective .. g. A dull burning anger rose in his chest. He had almost a supernatural courage. Her presence stirred him usually to a shy swift eagerness.this case the noun is usually qualified by an attribute which also brings out a special aspect, though occasionally it may be used without any attribute:. G. There was a warmth between them, a sense of waiting.its aspective function the indefinite article is devoid of the idea of ??oneness, which may be proved by the fact that we do not find such plurals as burning angers or supernatural courages. aspective use of the indefinite article is mainly characteristic of literary style. In ...
