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Starstuff Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

"A" before a person's name

0 "Yale and World War II are the juiciest bits of the story, partly because they involve the charismatic Dr. Fredericks, 01b00played by a superb 02b00Michael Gambon.01b00"02br
02br
02b00How come there's an article before a person's name? 02br
02br
00Thanks for any help 05102br
02br
00(original article: 05000) 0230hrefhttp://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/movies/22shep.html11id1
  

Top answer

0 ... 02br 00 ... 02br 00 ...

— CalifJim

  • 0 ...
  • 02br 00 ...
  • 02br 00 ...
  • 02br 00 ...
  • 02br 02br 00 CJ0-
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5 Answers
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0 ... played by Michael Gambon who was, in this instance, 01b00a02b00 superb actor.02br
00 ... played by "01b00an02b00 instance (of the acting) of" Michael Gambon which was superb.02br
00 ... played by "01b00a02b00 superb instance (of the acting) of" Michael Gambon.02br
00 ... played super
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0 Thanks for the quick reply CJ. 02br
02br
00When does "a/an [adjective] [name]" sound natural and when does it not?02br
02br
00Is it weird to say "my neighbor is a friendly John?"0-
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0 01i00played by a superb Michael Gambon02i02br
00 seems fine to me02br
02br
00 It basically says, with ellipsis: 01i02br
00 played by MG, in superb acting form02br
02br
02i00One could perhaps think of that meaning:01i02br
02i00 played by MG, who is a superb person0
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Starstuff12cite10Thanks for the quick reply CJ. 12br
12br
10When does "a/an [adjective] [name]" sound natural and when does it not?12br
12br
10Is it weird to say "my neighbor is a friendly John?"12br
12blockquote
10No, that's not natural.02br
02br
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0 Great answers! Thank you all!0-
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