USE OF a/an

a/an is used:

1. Before a singular countable noun when it is mentioned for the first time and represents no
particular person or thing:
e.g. I need a visa. They live in a flat.

2. Before a singular countable noun which is used as an example of a class of things:

e.g. A car (any car…) must be insured. A child (any child…) needs love.

3. After the verbs to be, to have and there is:

e.g. He is an actor. I have a cat. There is a pen on the table.

4. In certain expressions of quantity:

a lot of, a great many, a great deal of, a couple, a dozen, a hundred

5. Before half:
one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half; but: half a kilo

6. In expressions of price, speed, ratio etc.:

5p a kilo; $1 a metre, four times a day; sixty km an hour

7. In exclamations before such and what:

Such a nice day! What a pretty girl!

8. a can be placed before Mr/Mrs/Miss + surname:

A Mr Smith is waiting for you. (Некий мистер Смит ожидает вас)

a/an is not used:

9. Before plural nouns:

e.g. I love dogs.

10. Before uncountable nouns:

e.g. She doesn’t eat sugar.

11. Before names of meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper):

e.g. I have breakfast at eight.

12. Before names of illnesses:

She’s got tuberculosis. But: to have a cold, to have a headache, to suffer from (a) backache