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What's the rule for using a/an before an adjective?

I am asking this question because my high school professor is teaching us that we shouldn't use a/an before an adjective. With some 'exceptions' like "Picasso was a famous painter."

Now that sounds very strange to me because I am used to saying "It's a beautiful day.", not "It's beautiful day.", or "It's a small dog.", not "It's small dog". My professor also pointed out that "Picasso was a famous painter." was some kind of exception because "a" is used before an adjective. My professor also told me that this sentence is correct : "A mouse is an animal. It's small animal."

Like I said, for me, It's a very strange claim that we shouldn't use "a" or "an" before an adjective. What should I say to my professor? I would like your professional opinion about this.

Thanks.

Notice: This question isn't about 'a' vs 'an'. Read the question before marking it as a duplicate.

Muhamed Krlić
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    'Goodbye' (if you're giving a true account of what you're being told). – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '14 at 22:36
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    This is not true in the slightest. Either you misunderstood what he was saying, or he's wrong. – Wlerin Oct 03 '14 at 22:37
  • @EdwinAshworth Haha, It's true! I really don't know how to prove this! I would like to send an answer that can prove my professor wrong. – Muhamed Krlić Oct 03 '14 at 22:38
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    Here is an article from Purdue University, but this is very basic stuff. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '14 at 22:41
  • The only thing I can possibly think of is maybe he meant (and forgot to say) that that applied to predicative adjectives? The mouse is a small or Picasso was a famous don't work (but then again, that applies to the as well in which case he ought to've just said articles) – user0721090601 Oct 03 '14 at 22:44
  • Perhaps he meant when you don't repeat the noun? "A mouse is an animal. It's small." is correct, but "It's small mouse" is decidedly not. – Kevin Oct 03 '14 at 22:44
  • @Kevin Unfortunately no. I was trying to explain how that doesn't fit, didn't work, the professor said that I need to accept the rule. ( that was clearly wrong ) – Muhamed Krlić Oct 03 '14 at 22:46
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    Ask him for citations. – JenSCDC Oct 03 '14 at 23:34
  • This Purdue page explains articles. Articles are adjectives. It is perfectly acceptable and common for multiple adjectives to describe one noun. – kevinbatchcom Oct 04 '14 at 14:50
  • The "When should I use 'a' vs. 'an'?" question focuses on how to tell when the appropriate indefinite article in a situation calling for an indefinite article is "a" and when it is "an." This question is specifically about the circumstances under which an indefinite article of either kind—"a" or "an"—is acceptable before an adjective. It's a slightly bizarre question, but it doesn't strike me as being at all similar to the earlier question that "already has an answer." I recommend reopening this question. – Sven Yargs Oct 04 '14 at 23:26
  • @l0oky: Maybe you should consider rewording the title to your question so that it asks something along the lines of "When (if ever) is is acceptable to use an indefinite article immediately in front of an adjective?" It appears that some EL&U readers may be (mistakenly) interpreting the phrase "Should I use 'a' or 'an'..." as raising an either/or question about which indefinite article is appropriate in the situation you're talking about. – Sven Yargs Oct 04 '14 at 23:34
  • @SvenYargs You're right, as English isn't my native language I tend to make a lot of mistakes. Still learning. Thanks for the tip. – Muhamed Krlić Oct 05 '14 at 10:23
  • I'm afraid the example your professor gave It's small animal is incorrect, the adjective, small, modifies the noun, mouse, it tells us that the mouse is small. We use a in front of mouse because we talking about "all mice" i.e. all mice are small = a mouse is small = it's a small animal. – Mari-Lou A Oct 05 '14 at 12:57
  • @AndrewLeach May you explain how is my question same as "Are there any simple rules for choosing the definite vs. indefinite (vs. none) article?" ? Thank you. – Muhamed Krlić Oct 06 '14 at 14:20
  • You were asking about how to use an article. The answers at that question answer this one (the questions don't need to be the same; it's the answers which are important). This should be read in conjunction with comments which indicate that the premise your teacher has started you from is actually false. – Andrew Leach Oct 06 '14 at 14:26
  • @l0oky: The newly identified reference question that your question is said to duplicate—"Are there any simple rules for choosing the definite vs. the indefinite (vs. none) article?"—is much more relevant to your question than the one originally suggested as answering it ("When should I use 'a' vs. 'an'?"). In particular, the first answer there lays out some useful guidelines for using "a" or "an" versus not using any article. I still think—and your own perplexity on the point tends to confirm—that your question and the reference question are hardly the same in focus and coverage—but so be it. – Sven Yargs Oct 06 '14 at 23:39
  • As a matter of procedure, though, it seems a bit odd to put a question on hold on grounds that it duplicates one question, and then have it "marked as duplicate" (and have the reopen votes that were cast following its originally being put on on hold deleted) on grounds that it duplicates a different question. If the newly identified "duplicate" were truly a duplicate of the OP's question, the process would seem less peremptory—but even the chief proponent of the view that it is a duplicate concedes that it must be read "in conjunction with comments" here to answer the OP's question. – Sven Yargs Oct 06 '14 at 23:57
  • @SvenYargs I just like to keep It simple, everyone understood the essence of the problem, right? You guys are probably right, I won't argue with that. It was just strange for me to see that my question is a 'duplicate', I mean If It was I wouldn't post my question on EL&U after all. – Muhamed Krlić Oct 07 '14 at 12:29
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    @AndrewLeach That's not quite right there. The OP here was asking about examples with zero article. The question this is linked to has that in the title, but not one of the answers there explains when there should be no article! So it just ain't the case that the answers there, answer this question. – Araucaria - Him Oct 16 '14 at 06:29

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This is such a seemingly basic aspect of speech and writing in English that many guides don't even address it. But you may find this brief treatment of "The Adjective" in Warriner's English Grammar and Composition, Fifth Course (1977), a useful point of reference:

1c. An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun.

To modify means "to describe or make more definite" the meaning of a word. The most frequently used adjectives are a, an, and the, which are called articles.

...

Usually an adjective precedes the noun it modifies. Sometimes for emphasis, a writer may place it after the noun.

EXAMPLE This land, so rich and flourishing, gave a new life to the immigrants.

I included Warriner's example here not because it illustrates the use of rich and flourishing as adjectives following the noun they modify (which was Warriner's primary purpose in presenting the example), but because it contains an instance in which a appears immediately before a simple adjective (new), in the phrase "a new life." This phrase presumably falls into the forbidden zone established by the supposed rule "Do not use a or an before an adjective."

I also like Warriner's observation that articles comprise a special (but very common) subgroup of adjectives, rather than belonging to an unrelated category of words.

Warriner doesn't make a big deal about phrases such as "a new life" because they are as common in English as cornstalks in Iowa. Everybody who speaks natural-sounding English uses them constantly—and I imagine that if you were to record a lecture by your professor, the recording would probably contain dozens of instances of the very same type of construction.

Community
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Sven Yargs
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  • Sshhh. Articles are a type of pronoun ... Don't tell anyone ... – Araucaria - Him Oct 04 '14 at 02:48
  • @Araucaria Er, word grammar? :( – F.E. Oct 04 '14 at 06:11
  • @F.E. No, Mariangela Spinillo, Reconceptualising the English Determiner Class PhD Thesis UCL 2004 (Also Abney) Spinillo's very convincing. I'm undecided ... Read it ... :) She has a very H&P style approach ... – Araucaria - Him Oct 04 '14 at 09:16
  • EL&U has an interesting discussion about how to classify a, an, and the at Use of determiners as adjectives. Merriam-Webster's etymology of the is interesting, too: ""ME fr. OE thē, masc. demonstrative pron. & definite article, alter. (influenced by oblique cases — as thæs, gen. — & neut. thæt of sē; akin to Gk ho, masc. demonstrative pron. and definite article — more at THAT)." I am way out of my depth here. – Sven Yargs Oct 04 '14 at 17:47