The indefinite article a/an in IELTS: every rule you need for the exam

2026-10-04 · 12 min read

Uzbek and Russian have no articles, so a slips out of speech and writing without the speaker noticing: Child needs attention, I am student, It is important problem. An examiner sees these gaps in every other sentence, and they pull down Grammatical Range and Accuracy even when the sentences are complex and the vocabulary is rich. The good news: the indefinite article follows a small number of rules. Below is everything that covers almost every case in essays, Writing Task 1 and Speaking, a three-question check and an exercise. The and the zero article get their own article in this series.

What a means

Historically, a is just an unstressed "one". It says: "one of many, some, not a specific one". I bought a laptop means one laptop out of all that exist, and the listener does not yet know which. Two consequences follow, and almost everything else rests on them:

a only goes with things you can count one by one: a book, a problem, a solution;
a never goes with things you cannot count or with more than one: a information, a books are mistakes.

The main rule: a singular countable noun never stands alone

If a noun is countable and singular, something must come before it: a/an, the, my, this, that, each, every, one, another, his… It cannot stand bare. This one rule covers most of the mistakes Uzbek and Russian speakers make.

Wrong	Right
Child needs attention of parents.	A child needs… or Children need…
Government should build hospital.	The government should build a hospital.
Car is expensive to maintain.	A car is… or Cars are…
It is good idea.	It is a good idea.
I live in small town.	I live in a small town.

In essays a handy move is to switch to the plural, where no article is needed at all: Children need…, Cars are… This is not a trick but normal style for general statements, and it is harder to get wrong.

When to use a

1. First mention: "some, one of"

Something appears in the text for the first time, and the listener does not know which one you mean. A recent study found that…, I had a teacher who…, The city built a new bridge. When you come back to it, it becomes the: The bridge cost… First a, then the; more on this in the article about the.

2. Who or what it is: jobs, roles, classification

When you put a person or thing into a category, you need a. In Russian and Uzbek there is not even a verb here, so the mistake is double: I student.

I am a student. My father is an engineer. I want to become a doctor.
Tashkent is a big city. Smoking is a serious problem. This is a difficult question.
She works as a nurse. After as meaning a role, too.

The exception is a position only one person can hold: He was elected president. She became head of the department. Here there is no article, or the.

3. Description: a + adjective + noun

An adjective does not cancel the article; it sits between the article and the noun: a problem, a serious problem, a very serious problem, all three correct. In Speaking this is the most common case: It's a really nice place, he's a very kind person, it was a tough decision.

A reminder: an adjective is a word that describes a thing and answers "what kind?": big, new, serious, difficult, useful. In a very serious problem the adjective is serious; very only makes it stronger.

Intensifiers have their own word order, worth learning as formulas:

such a + adjective + noun: It was such a long day. (not a such)
what a + noun: What a waste of time!
quite a / rather a: It's quite a popular idea.
so / too / as + adjective + a + noun: It is too big a risk. An advanced pattern; you can do without it.

By the way: in informal American speech you often hear too big of a risk, not that big of a deal. In Speaking that is not a mistake, but in an essay write it without of: too big a risk.

4. A general statement through one example

A smartphone is a useful tool means any smartphone. It is correct, but in an essay it sounds like a textbook. The plural usually works better: Smartphones are useful tools.

5. Numbers, fractions and quantity

a hundred, a thousand, a million, a dozen, with a in place of "one": a hundred people. But two hundred, without s.
a half, a third, a quarter: a third of students. Fixed: half an hour, one and a half.
a lot of, a couple of, a number of, a great deal of, a wide range of, a variety of, a large proportion of.
a number of ≠ the number of: A number of students are… (= several, many), The number of students is… (= the quantity). A frequent trap in Writing Task 1.

6. Frequency, price, speed: "per"

Where you mean "per week" or "per kilo", English uses a: twice a week, three times a day, 60 km an hour, $5 a kilo, 40 hours a week. Twice in a week is a mistake; per is possible but sounds official in speech.

7. Writing Task 1: trends as nouns

When a movement on a chart is expressed as a noun, it needs a: There was a sharp rise in…, a slight decline, a peak of 40%, a gradual increase, a drop of 5%. Same as point 1: the rise appears for the first time. Come back to it, and it is the rise. There was sharp increase is the most common mistake on charts. The patterns themselves are covered in How to describe trends in IELTS Writing Task 1.

8. Fixed phrases

These are easier to learn as a list than to work out from rules. The most useful for the exam:

actions: make a decision, make a mistake, have a look, take a break, take a risk, have a chance, play a role in, give a talk, have a good time;
linking phrases: as a result, as a rule, for a while, for a long time, at a time, in a hurry, all of a sudden, on a daily basis, it's a pity, it's a shame;
health: have a headache, have a cold, have a temperature.

A or an: by sound, not by letter

An goes before a vowel sound, a before a consonant sound. The letter does not matter.

Written with a vowel, sounds like a consonant: a	Written with a consonant, sounds like a vowel: an
a university, a European country, a useful tip, a one-way ticket, a unique chance ("yu", "wa" sounds)	an hour, an honest answer, an MBA, an SUV, an 8% increase, an 11-year-old (silent h; letters and numbers read with a vowel)

The article looks at the next word, not at the noun: an apple but a red apple; a university but an old university. In Writing Task 1, watch the numbers: an 18% rise, a 25% rise.

When a is wrong

1. Uncountable nouns

The trickiest group: in Russian and Uzbek these words can be counted, in English they cannot. No a and no -s:

information, advice, research, evidence, knowledge, progress, equipment, furniture, homework, news, traffic, accommodation, money, transport, pollution, behaviour, unemployment, weather, work.

Below, left of the arrow is wrong, right of it is correct:

a useful advice → useful advice or a useful piece of advice;
a research shows → research shows or a study shows;
What a nice weather! → What nice weather!
I found a job is correct, I found a work is not.

Some words can be both, with different meanings: experience (experience in general) and an experience (an event), paper (material) and a paper (an article, a newspaper), education (in general) and a good education (someone's particular one), a knowledge of in a good knowledge of English. When there is an adjective and you mean "a kind of" something, a often appears.

2. Plural nouns

A is only for one. With plurals its place is taken by nothing or by some / any: a problem, but problems or some problems.

3. When there is already another determiner

A noun has one slot for a determiner. If it holds my, this, the, some, no, every, Ali's, you do not need a second one: not a my friend but a friend of mine or one of my friends.

4. Fixed cases without an article

meals: have breakfast, after lunch (but with an adjective, a quick lunch);
transport with by: by car, by bus (but in a car);
what kind of / what sort of + noun: What kind of job…? without a;
"one" when counting: only one problem, not only a problem, when the number matters.

Pairs people mix up

a few / few, a little / little. With a: "some, not many, but there are some" (positive): I have a few friends there. Without a: "hardly any" (negative): Few people use it. One letter changes the meaning of the sentence.
a / one. a is "some", one is "one, not two": I have one brother and two sisters.
a / the. a is new and any one of many, the is already known or the only one. A man came in. The man was tall.

The three-question check

For every noun without an article in your text, ask in this order:

Can it be counted? (one problem, two problems: yes; one information: no.) If not, no a.
Is it singular? If not, no a.
Is there already the, my, this, every… before it? If not, it needs a/an (or the, if the thing is specific and known).

Then check the sound of the next word: a or an. There is no spellchecker in the exam, and it would not underline these mistakes anyway; an "articles only" pass over a finished essay takes a couple of minutes.

Exercise

Where do you need a/an, and where not? Answers below.

My sister is ___ architect.
There was ___ significant increase in ___ unemployment.
Can you give me ___ advice?
I go to the gym three times ___ week.
It takes ___ hour to get to ___ university.
___ few people agree with this idea, so it is rarely discussed.
It was such ___ interesting experience.
___ child learns faster when ___ parents are involved.
The figure rose by ___ 11% in 2010.
He is ___ honest and ___ hard-working person.

Answers: 1: an architect; 2: a significant increase, unemployment with no article; 3: some advice or a piece of advice; 4: a week; 5: an hour, to university or to the university; if you need the indefinite article, it is only a university ("yu" sound), never an university; 6: Few (hardly anyone, so it is rarely discussed); 7: an interesting; 8: A child, parents or their parents; 9: by 11%, no article needed, but an 11% rise; 10: an honest, no second article: an honest and hard-working person.

How to practise

Take your last essay, or record an answer to a Speaking Part 2 question and transcribe it. Underline every noun and run the three questions. Usually you find 5–10 missing a's per essay, and that is exactly the reserve that moves Grammatical Range and Accuracy without any new complex structures. Repeat for a week until the gaps become rare, then move on to the.

In Tilmashq, Writing Task 2 essays and Writing Task 1 answers are scored on all four criteria, including Grammatical Range and Accuracy, with quotes from your text and corrections, so missing articles show up right in the feedback. The scoring is done by AI and is on average stricter than an examiner, so read the band as a minimum. The tasks are our own, not taken from the exam.