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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Vocabulary
The article "a" with "salary."
I teach ESL and had a student ask why we use the article "a" in the following sentence:
She would buy whatever she wanted if she had a good salary.
This completely stumped me. Can anyone offer a reason?
She would buy whatever she wanted if she had a good salary.
This completely stumped me. Can anyone offer a reason?
Top answer
A countable singular noun has to have a determiner. 'salary' is countable. salary, salaries The most obvious choices are 'a' or 'the'.
- A countable singular noun has to have a determiner.
- 'salary' is countable.
- salary, salaries The most obvious choices are 'a' or 'the'.
- If you use 'the good salary' you are referring to some specific salary (not 'the bad salary', for example, as if you were making a contrast).
- But there is nothing in the context that establishes which specific salary that could be, so the only reasonable choice is 'a'.
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1 Answers
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A countable singular noun has to have a determiner.
'salary' is countable. salary, salaries
The most obvious choices are 'a' or 'the'. If you use 'the good salary' you are referring to some specific salary (not 'the bad salary', for example, as if you were making a contrast). But there is nothing in the context that establishes which specific salary that could be, so th
'salary' is countable. salary, salaries
The most obvious choices are 'a' or 'the'. If you use 'the good salary' you are referring to some specific salary (not 'the bad salary', for example, as if you were making a contrast). But there is nothing in the context that establishes which specific salary that could be, so th
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