The position of "a"
Feb 16th 2010 20:55
I found a sentence below.
"Jumping would be too drastic a measure."
Then, I am confused by the position of "a".
Is a sentence below grammatically correct?
"Jumping would be a drastic measure."
If the above-mentioned sentence is correct, I wonder why "a" moved before "drastic".
And also, is a sentence below grammatically correct?
"He is too young a man to be married."
Teach me, please.
"Jumping would be too drastic a measure."
Then, I am confused by the position of "a".
Is a sentence below grammatically correct?
"Jumping would be a drastic measure."
If the above-mentioned sentence is correct, I wonder why "a" moved before "drastic".
And also, is a sentence below grammatically correct?
"He is too young a man to be married."
Teach me, please.
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I found a the sentence below.
Then, I am confused by the position of "a".
Is a the sentence below grammatically correct?
"Jumping would be a drastic measure." Yes, this sentence is correct.
If the above-mentioned sentence is correct, I wonder why "a" moved appears before "drastic".
And also, is a the sentence below grammatically correct?
"He is too young a man to be married." Yes, correct
Now I am confused by the position of "a".
"Jumping would be a drastic measure."Yes, it is correct. Without "a" it would be wrong.
If the above mentioned sentence is correct, I wonder why "a" moved before "drastic".Hmm...explaining this is difficult. I think in the first sentence the emphasis is on the measure which is too drastic. In the second one the emphasis is more about the drastic measure, seen as one. Also, in the first sentence the measure is too bad, in the second one it is just bad. The "a" just gives emphasis. The fist sentence could've been, "Jumping would be a too drastic measure." but that would change the emphasis.
"He is too young a man to be married." Yes, this is correct too. You need articles in English, so you have to put them in somewhere. Without "a" it also won't make sense.
For example, if you replace 'too' with a different adverb, like 'incredibly', then 'a' can go before the adverb.
'Jumping would be an incredibly drastic measure.'
But, 'Jumping would be a too drastic measure' sounds incorrect.
I'll keep searching for an answer!
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your help!
"Jumping would be too drastic a measure"
As to why the sentence is the way it is...
"Jumping would be a drastic measure"
"a drastic measure" is in essence a 'thing', it is an event, like a holiday, or a celebration. They are not tangible, they are not real things you can touch, but they are still 'things', as such they are described with an "a"
A car, a guitar, a cat, a celebration, a drastic measure.
All use "a".
If it helps, you can think of it as the number counter particle for a single 'thing' in English.
Just bear in mind that if the word begins with a Vowel or a Vowel sound (A, E, I, O, U) then the "a" becomes "an".
An orange, an envelope etc
Hope that helps.