In Nouns^x, Indefinite articles^x, Idioms^x

Hi Muttley Unfortunately there are a myriad cases involving proper nouns with adjectival attributes and the indefinite article. You'll just have to learn them piecemeal. As you said in your first post, a/an is often used with a person's name: We met a sad George yesterday. The indefinite...

Hi, Cambridge Dic says "means" is plural, like scissors or pants means (METHOD) plural noun What is the matter with the leading indefinite article then, as in "a means of"? Is it an idiom? But if we can single out one particular "means" of all available, then shouldn't it be countable?

I agree with paco2004 that the plural fools is needed to agree with supporters . I also agree that the indefinite article a is needed in Don't make a fool of me . ( To make a fool of is an idiom which means to cause someone or oneself to look foolish or stupid. --- dictionary.com ) From...

Hello MrP So I can only assume that either Dickens got his idiom slightly wrong, or ‘Child as he was’ had a simple complementary sense in his day. I feel your sense that children are not immune to hunger and misery is very modern one. Children of poor social classes in Dickens' times...

Thanks, Eagle, Paco, and MisterM for all your painstaking posts! Much to chew on. 1. It's odd that both your and K's dictionaries give this structure, which I seldom if ever hear. Maybe it's more common elsewhere. Sorry, all: I should have been clearer. I meant the ‘Child as he was…’...