Editors Wobbly Desk
The Classroom
Addictionary
The teacher walks in, performing bunny jumps to allow his brain to capture on students baseless high frequency flying questions.
Student — Could you please pass me salt?
Why ‘ the ‘ is used here. Can anyone tell me the reason?
Teacher —Why anyone you can’t consider me? I’m in invisible mode.
The idea is that when we say this, we are sitting at the table with other people and the salt is on the table. It’s something we can all see and I can assume that the person I say this to knows what I am referring to.
I hope you get the right things passed to you on the table without throwing people with your fractured English.
Student — Hey, I get confused a little. I would happy for explanation.
You write — “We use a when the word that follows it begins with a consonant sound. We use an when it’s followed by a vowel sound.”
But the example that you give: “She has a university degree.” I don’t understand why it is ‘a’ and don’t ‘an’.
University starts with u and this is a vowel sound, so why a?
Teacher — The key is the word ‘sound’. A vowel in English is one of five letters: a, e, i, o, u. However, a word can begin with a vowel (letter) but not with a vowel sound (pronunciation).
University is an example of this. The first sound is not /u:/ but /j/, the same sound we have in yellow and yes.
I hope it is crystal clear for a lifespan.
Student — Hi, can you explain more about ‘’ Something that is part of a group or type.’’
And elaborate on this ‘’Do you want sandwich? I’ve got cheese and bread in the shopping bag.’’
Teacher — ‘Something that is part of a group of type’ refers to words like teacher in this sentence: She’s a teacher. It means she is a member of a group (a group of people who have the same job — they are all teachers).
About Do you want ___ sandwich? , this needs ‘a’ because sandwich is a singular countable noun, and it seems like this is the first mention of the sandwich in the conversation.
Makes any sense to your big head?
