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So, I have a debate with my associate. We are debating whether one can say something like "I am student." It was argued that this was proper and that indeed you can use a verb followed by a noun without an article or definite/ indefinite article. I had argued that we can say "we are students", but their thought was that you can even use a subjunctive or a present indicative then immediately follow it with a noun. Such as "We are student."

We are adapting a script to a dubbed movie and my job is to give advice on how a native speaker in America would express the idea. I wondered about this question for awhile because us natives can say "I am home. / We're home." but of course we don't mean that we are in fact a place where one lives! So I am curious about this question.

Furthermore, they pointed out some instances on the internet where people used this term and they have "Googled" many results. I was perplexed because I never say this nor have I heard others who live here say it. Can someone help articulate this problem for them? Is "I am student." proper English?

MovieScriptGuy
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    Please visit [ell.se] – Kris Jun 16 '15 at 11:51
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    For jobs, occupations, and professions the indefinite article is nearly always used .A: "What do you in life?" B: I'm a(n) janitor / doctor / actor / student etc. – Mari-Lou A Jun 16 '15 at 12:13
  • Who is doing the site a disservice by upvoting here? – Edwin Ashworth Jun 16 '15 at 13:09
  • Yes, it is. For first-year Russian students who are taking English as a second language or 2D Russian mobsters in hack movie scripts. – Robusto Jun 16 '15 at 16:01
  • Perhaps related to this is something like: "I am treasurer." :) -- Hmm, there might be a drunkard linguistics guy somewhere on the BrE side of the pond who might be in the process of writing you up an answer post, maybe! :D – F.E. Jun 16 '15 at 19:55
  • @F.E. This question's closed!! Anyhow, I don't think there's any linguistics students on this site ... :D – Araucaria - Him Jun 16 '15 at 23:34
  • @Araucaria Yeah, so it iz! I remember a song with *"I am woman!"* in it. And then there's "She is pure happiness", and plenty more I'd expect. But you got a deleted answer post in this thread, don't cha? :D – F.E. Jun 17 '15 at 00:06
  • @Araucaria Oh, look here! This thread is open! Why do we say “Who is she?” Barely, though. It's a shame it's gonna be closed soon, as I was interested in seeing a good answer over there. :D – F.E. Jun 17 '15 at 00:10
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    @Araucaria are you not going to undelete your answer? It might persuade users to reopen the post. – Mari-Lou A Jun 17 '15 at 05:45
  • 'We are student' might be used in a tongue-in-cheek way for effect, but would not be used by 99.9% of proficient English speakers, probably on any occasion in their lives. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 18 '15 at 13:56
  • I am student legend. – pazzo Jun 18 '15 at 15:43
  • 'I am home' is a totally different construction from 'I am a builder'. 'Home' here is an adverbial objective, and this is a very unusual usage. 'I am school / college / house / hospital ...' don't work, and neither do the unadorned independent clauses 'I am boy / man / teacher / pupil / professor ...'. Rarely, 'I am father!' and other near-title usages may be used for effect. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 20 '15 at 13:44
  • @Araucaria here is another post (still open as I speak) with a similar question, but this time including a fair chunk of research http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/268282/can-predicative-complements-not-be-bare-noun-phrases-in-english-that-is-are-cl#268282 – Mari-Lou A Aug 21 '15 at 09:05
  • @Araucaria I really think your answer (deleted) would help in the question which has attracted 7 upvotes, so no chance of it being closed. Carpe diem! – Mari-Lou A Aug 21 '15 at 17:41

2 Answers2

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"I am student" is not grammatically correct as "student" is a noun.

Ngram

Note that meme-like inside jokes exist around the web where the phrase is used incorrectly on purpose (KEEP-CALM-I-AM-STUDENT)

Othya
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    Also: I am Student, hear me roar! – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jun 16 '15 at 13:04
  • Me Tarzan; you student. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 16 '15 at 13:14
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    @EdwinAshworth Aso "I am student oriented in my approach to teaching" – Araucaria - Him Jun 16 '15 at 14:27
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    @EdwinAshworth Or "I am student services manager" – Araucaria - Him Jun 16 '15 at 14:29
  • @Araucaria: The former should be "student-oriented" and the latter should be "I am a student services manager" for aforementioned reasons. However, you might just say "I am student services manager at X university" implying you're the only one. – MSalters Jun 16 '15 at 14:56
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    @MSalters It would seem that if it can be "I am Student Services Manager" then there's no reason to say that it should be "I am a Student Services Manager". – Araucaria - Him Jun 16 '15 at 14:59
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    @Araucaria if you say "I am Student Services Manager", there is an implied "the" in that sentence, otherwise it would be grammatically incorrect. – Othya Jun 16 '15 at 15:02
  • @Othya It's called a bare role NP. They're not an imaginary category. There's no imaginary words in there. It's a completely normal use of a bare-role NP. – Araucaria - Him Jun 16 '15 at 15:11
  • @Othya You might want to note that an article is required because "student" is a count noun: "I am porridge" is not grammatically incorrect. Also, the "implied" the could also be an "a", and, if it is possible to leave it out as implied, then you can leave it out. – phoog Jun 16 '15 at 15:12
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    @MSalters "The former should be 'student-oriented' ". Not according to M N Hedge in 'A Coursebook on Scientific and Professional Writing'. Have you an authority backing up your claim? – Edwin Ashworth Jun 16 '15 at 16:31
  • @Araucaria - Sorry, "I am Student Services Manager" is not good English. It is not what a native English speaker would say. – Vince O'Sullivan Jun 19 '15 at 17:18
  • @VinceO'Sullivan "is student services manager". versus "is a student services manager". That seems to be a ratio of 48,200 "is SSM" to 6 "is a SSM". – Araucaria - Him Jun 19 '15 at 17:31
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    Counting Google occurrences doesn't really help since it will pull back all matching phrases regardless of context or dialect. The example that you used ("I am Student Services Manager") yields very different statistics to the original question ("I am student"). This is because where there is a single role (i.e. one Student Services Manager, one Captain, etc.) then saying "I am Student Services Manager." or "I am Captain." can be valid (but "I am the ..." is usually better). However, this does not translate to "I am student." because it is not a role occupied by a single named individual. – Vince O'Sullivan Jun 24 '15 at 11:42
  • @VinceO'Sullivan What? I don't understand. I was responding to your comment, to quote you verbatim: *"Sorry, "I am Student Services Manager" is not good English. It is not what a native English speaker would say.* – Araucaria - Him Jul 03 '15 at 12:39
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No. The word student is a noun not an adjective, so you would say "I am a student.".

There is no plural for "a" or "the" in English, thus "We are students." is good English.

Vince O'Sullivan
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    As Reg Dwight has said, '[W]e write stuff in comments that is too obvious to qualify for an answer. [This] is not really a topic for a site for linguists and etymologists, and we don't want it to become a topic.' // 'Some' is often regarded as a ( functional equivalent of a) plural indefinite article. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 16 '15 at 13:11
  • @EdwinAshworth: Certainly not in this case: "We are some students" is a correct sentence but not the plural of "I am a student". – MSalters Jun 16 '15 at 14:52
  • The plural for the is the. – Peter Shor Jun 16 '15 at 16:00
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    You have two thes in your sentence, @PeterShor – pazzo Jun 18 '15 at 15:42