Repetition of "a"?

Question

Hi everyone.Could you tell me which of the following sentence is correct or refer me to site where I can learn the rules regarding this type of sentence?We learn here how to be a functional member of a family, community, nation and the world.We learn here how to be a functional member of a family, a community, a nation and the world.Thanks!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Repeated structures (such as a noun series) follow a principle of style called parallelism. Parallelism means that an you have a series of lexical items which share an element that can optionally be omitted. These are guides of style, not grammar. It is equally grammatical to omit a shared element or leave it in. It is the choice of the author.

In titles, such as this one, the article is

In titles, such as this one, the article is repeated. It gives an emphasis to each element of the series.

 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

There are not many on-line resources, but here is one on parallelism in general.

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/grammar/common-sentence-errors/parallel-sentence-structures

When you use words such as to, a, an, his, her, or their with items in a series, you can use the word with the first item, thus having it apply to all the items; or you can repeat it with each item. If you choose to repeat it, you must do so with all the items, not just some of them.

Repetition of "a"?

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