• L’article indéfini A s’emploie devant un nom commençant par une consonne, AN par un nom commençant par une voyelle.
a student / an economist
Exceptions :
a university / a US scientist / a European directive (u is pronounced like you)
Dans ces cas, u est considéré comme une semi-consonne, prononcée [ju]. Inversement, quand le h n’est pas prononcé, on utilise AN : an honest man / an honorable gentleman / an hour
• L’article indéfini s’écrit AN et se prononce [œn / en] devant une lettre de l’alphabet qui précède un nom composé. Cette lettre peut être une des consonnes suivantes : f / l / m / n / r / s ou x.
an R-rated film / an X-rated film / an X-ray / an MSc (Master of Science)
Notez que l’on trouve AN devant une abréviation commençant par f / l / m / n / r / s ou x.
an MP (mais a Member of Parliament / a military policeman)
• A / AN (plur. ø) s’emploie devant un nom dénombrable.
They carried out an experiment using a single pulse laser.
A serious game consists in using the technologies of (ø) video games for (ø) educational purposes.
• A / AN (plur. ø) s’emploie pour des généralisations, tout comme l’article défini the au singulier. L’article ø est aussi possible au pluriel. Donc trois possibilités en anglais.
A lion belongs to the feline species.
We find the lion essentially in Africa and the tiger in Asia.
(ø) Lions and (ø) tigers have often been perceived as fierce beasts.
Soyez cohérent : ne passez pas du singulier au pluriel dans le même paragraphe.
Tracking a learner’s behavior on line implies following every click the learner makes and every website *learners visit. On doit dire the learner visits.
• A / AN ne fonctionne pas avec les noms collectifs (indénombrables) : on ne dit pas *a research mais a research project / paper / information / a piece of information
Faire la différence entre progress (indénombrable) et a breakthrough / an advance (un progrès) (dénombrable). Voir le chapitre sur les indénombrables.
• On trouve A / AN dans des questions qui appellent une définition d’une chose, une personne, un animal.
What's a giraffe? It’s an animal with a long neck.
Who was Benjamin Franklin? He was an American scientist and inventor.
• A / AN s’emploie également dans le cas d’une fonction, d’un statut (non unique), d’un métier, d’une profession, de la nationalité (si le nom de nationalité se termine par –an ou -i), de la race ou de la couleur de la peau, de la religion. On trouve a(n) en position d'attribut et en apposition avec be / become / as. Après as, le locuteur considère que le nom est un élément d’une classe. Si la classe n’a qu’un élément, il n’y a pas d’article.
What does William Smith do for a living ? He’s an engineer.
What does his wife do ? She’s a research assistant.
William Gates is an American. Tim Berners-Lee is an Englishman.
Professor Sendry is Head of the Physics Department.
Barack Obama is President of the United States.
• On emploie A / AN devant un quantificateur : a dozen (une douzaine) / a hundred (une centaine) / a thousand (un millier) + GN / a quarter (un quart) / a little (un peu de) / a few (quelques) / a great many (un grand nombre). On utilise a devant une approximation au lieu de one. Pour un nombre précis, on emploie one.
Jet planes travel at more than a thousand miles per hour.
Give me one good reason for accepting the mission.
Would you allow me a little more time to complete my project?
• On emploie A / AN après une préposition.
He managed to complete his research without a grant from the US government.
He undertook the unpleasant assignment without a single word of complaint.
1. Repérez l’erreur et corrigez-là si nécessaire.
1. Mururoa was a island in the Pacific used for nuclear testing.
2. For this teaching position, it is necessary to have an university degree.
3. The calculations took more than a hour to complete.
4. The top nine Chinese universities have formed an union, somewhat equivalent to the US Ivy League.
5. He teaches epistemology to a graduate class in a Ivy League college.
6. Would you like to study for a MBA in London or in Cambridge?
7. He does a research on genetics in one of Johns Hopkins’ laboratories. He’s research worker.
8. He has a PhD from Princeton and he was awarded the Fields medal in 2005.
9. Could you give me dozen good reasons for not giving Dr. Troll tenure?
10. As Chinese nuclear scientist, he was denied access to confidential information.
2. Complétez les phrases à l’aide de the, a, an ou ø.
1. … economist, it is said, is … expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday did not happen today.
2. She was awarded … PhD in EE and is now on … track for … tenure.
3. … medical student must know how to interpret … X-ray.
4. Do you think our department needs … new scanner or … MRI
5. “… science without … religion is lame; … religion without … science is blind.” (Einstein).
6. … quantum computer is … device for … computation making direct use of … quantum mechanical phenomena.
7. … Antarctica’s penguins are not threatened with extinction. Most likely, if temperatures keep rising and sea ice and krill numbers keep falling, … penguin population will plummet, then stabilise.
8. Just about everyone who buys … PC these days wants to gain access to … Internet, so … browser should be standard equipment.
9. … common definition of species is that of … group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing … fertile offspring of both genders, and separated from other such groups with which … interbreeding does not normally happen.
10. … science may be defined as … knowledge attained through study or practice or knowledge covering … general truths of … operation of the general laws, especially as obtained and tested through … scientific method and concerned with … physical world.
Content and exercises (J Wisdom, F Gusdorf) copy right