"an" usage

Question

Two weeks later Congress voted to fit out an additional two ships, not for a single voyage, but "to be employed in such manner, for the protection and defense of the United Colonies."

Please check usage of "an" in the above sentence. Can it be used for plural?

Philip · Accepted Answer

AnonymousTwo weeks later Congress voted to fit out an additional two ships, not for a single voyage, but "to be employed in such manner, for the protection and defense of the United Colonies."

Please check usage of "an" in the above sentence. Can it be used for plural? No.

However, it is used correctly here, as it is modifying "additional" (singular).

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Two weeks later Congress voted to fit out an additional two ships, not for a single voyage, but "to be employed in such manner, for the protection and defense of the United Colonies."

Please check usage of "an" in the above sentence. It's fine.

Can it be used for plural? Yes, in a case like this, because in a context like this the adjective 'additional' shows that the writer is thinking of 'two ships' as a single quantity. Without the adjective, you couldn't just say '. . . to fit out a two ships'.

It might help if you consider an everyday example like 'My rent went up last month. I had to pay an additional fifty dollars'. Here, the speaker is not thinking of each individual dollar separately, but just of the fifty as a single quantity.

You could also say 'two additional ships', but here it seems the writer is thinking separately of each ship.

Best wishes, Clive

"an" usage

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