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Can I use an indefinite article?

Please, explain me.
I know, for example: She is an energetic person.
BUT for example :
1) It's Fillip. He is shy and sullen or He is a shy and sullen.
???
2) Ron is a greedy and sly, but Will is a honest and generous OR Ron is greedy and sly, but Will is honest and generous.
???
What else...
He is a very creative OR he is very creative.
???



For learning: English
Base language: English
Category: Language

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    Best Answer - Chosen by the Asker
    The indefinite article can only be used with a noun or a noun phrase, but never with an adjective by itself (in English adjectives cannot generally be used as nouns, unlike many other languages).
    What you have are two different kinds of sentence: (1) one in which the predicate describes the subject ("he is sullen"), and (2) one in which the predicate identifies or classifies the subject ("he is an energetic person").
    "an energetic person" is a noun phrase, based on the noun "person", and indicates that the subject belongs to a particular class of things: in this case "energetic people", so it takes the indefinite article; whereas "shy", "sullen", "greedy", etc. are adjectives which simply offer a description of the subject and so cannot take the article.
    Of course, you can used these adjectives to qualify a noun phrase: "a greedy person", etc., in which case you can use the indefinite article since you have changed the sentence from type (1) to type (2).

    Usually, if there are adjectives following a subject, you don't use 'a' unless there is noun following the adjective. In your examples above:
    It's Fillip. He is shy and sullen <this is correct>
    He is a shy and sullen PERSON <this would be the correct form, if you were to use 'a' before the adjective>

    Another one:
    The car is red <this is correct - without the 'a'>
    The car is A red BMW <this is correct - with the 'a'>

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