Indefinite article_.]

436. The indefinite article is used, like the definite article, to
limit two or more modified nouns, only one of which is expressed. The
article is repeated for the purpose of separating or emphasizing the
modified nouns. Examples of this use are,--

We shall live _a better_ and _a higher_ and _a nobler_
life.--BEECHER.

The difference between the products of _a well-disciplined_ and
those of _an uncultivated_ understanding is often and admirably
exhibited by our great dramatist.--S.T. COLERIDGE.

Let us suppose that the pillars succeed each other, _a round_ and
_a square_ one alternately.--BURKE.

As if the difference between _an accurate_ and _an inaccurate_
statement was not worth the trouble of looking into the most
common book of reference.--MACAULAY.

To every room there was _an open_ and _a secret_
passage.--JOHNSON.

Notice that in the above sentences (except the first) the noun
expressed is in contrast with the modified noun omitted.

[Sidenote: _One article with several adjectives._]

437. Usually the article is not repeated when the several adjectives
unite in describing one and the same noun. In the sentences of Secs.
433 and 436, one noun is expressed; yet the same word understood with
the other adjectives has a different meaning (except in the first
sentence of Sec. 436). But in the following sentences, as in the first
three of Sec. 435, the adjectives assist each other in describing the
same noun. It is easy to see the difference between the expressions
"_a red-and-white_ geranium," and "_a red and a white_ geranium."

Examples of several adjectives describing the same object:--

To inspire us with _a free and quiet_ mind.--B. JONSON.

Here and there _a desolate and uninhabited_ house.--DICKENS.

James was declared _a mortal and bloody_ enemy.--MACAULAY.

So wert thou born into a tuneful strain,
_An early, rich, and inexhausted_ vein.
--DRYDEN.

[Sidenote: _For rhetorical effect._]

438. The indefinite article (compare Sec. 434) is used to lend
special emphasis, interest, or clearness to each of several nouns;
as,--

James was declared _a_ mortal and bloody _enemy, a tyrant, a
murderer_, and _a usurper_.--MACAULAY.

Thou hast spoken as _a patriot_ and _a Christian_.--BULWER.

He saw him in his mind's eye, _a collegian, a parliament man--a
Baro