Studying Grammar Like Crazy!

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Part of speech
or grammatical category:

Word, term
or idea:

Other notes on
class or type:

Level of difficulty
1 elementary
5 intermediate
9 advanced

Adjective

article word order

while a, an and the are adjectives, they are also classified as articles

Explanation and discussion:

The common word order rule for articles is

article, adjective, noun

However, sometimes we make an exception to that rule, and place the article before the noun or between two other adjectives. There are several reasons given for this:

sort of an artistic sense, or to give the phrase more force or intensify its meaning
sound, that is, to the native ear, it just 'sounds better'
idiomatic or common usage
On occasion this may cause what seems to be an error in subject-verb agreement, so please be careful.

Example(s):

Many a time had the teacher to reprimand the misbehaving students. 'A many times...' sounds strange, however, we do hear 'A good many times...'
She is so sweet a baby. Of course, you could say 'a so sweet baby' but the meaning feels different.
Dentists say you should brush your teeth three times a day.

Note(s): 1) Knowing when and how to use articles is most difficult for speakers from languages without articles. The BEST way to learn is via extensive listening and extensive reading.

2) In the third example above, many a time I have heard my students substitute per for a. Please do not make this mistake! (Except in the accounting, sales and sourcing departments!)

Do not say: Twice per day, 1,000 yen per hour, 5,000 yen per pair.
They should be: Twice a day, 1,000 yen an hour, 5,000 yen a pair.

Exercise(s):

1) Chose one:

2) Chose one:

3) Chose one:

4) Chose one:

Studying Grammar Like Crazy!

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