Editing Article (grammar) (section)

===Indefinite article===

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An '''indefinite article''' is an article that marks an [[definiteness|indefinite noun phrase]]. Indefinite articles are those such as English "[[English articles#Indefinite article|a]]" or "an", which do not refer to a specific identifiable entity. Indefinites are commonly used to introduce a new discourse referent which can be referred back to in subsequent discussion:

# A monster ate a cookie. His name is [[Cookie Monster]].

Indefinites can also be used to generalize over entities who have some property in common:

# A cookie is a wonderful thing to eat.

Indefinites can also be used to refer to specific entities whose precise identity is unknown or unimportant.

# A monster must have broken into my house last night and eaten all my cookies.
# A friend of mine told me that happens frequently to people who live on Sesame Street.

Indefinites also have predicative uses:

# Leaving my door unlocked was a bad decision.

Indefinite noun phrases are widely studied within linguistics, in particular because of their ability to take [[scope (formal semantics)#Exceptional scope|exceptional scope]].