Do I have to say "Michael is a New Zealander" or can I leave out the indefinite article "a"?
Answer
You could say "Michael is German", however "German" in this sentence is interpreted as an adjective, not a noun.
It would also be correct grammatically to say "Michael is a German", although this is less common, and in this sentence "German" is a noun.
You can see the difference for nationalities where the noun of nationality is not the same as the adjective: "Michel is French" vs. "Michel is a Frenchman". However, for nearly all countries, the noun and the adjective are the same.
However the term "New Zealander" is a noun and not an adjective. So you must say "Michael is a New Zealander". In spoken English, this can commonly be abbreviated to "Michael's a New Zealander".
No comments:
Post a Comment