The Portrait of a Lady

the Determiner

— Used, instead of a, to reference something specific, already known to exist. Compare "I read a book." and "I read the book." — Used with a stress, to show that the word following is special. Are you the John Smith that I went to school with? — Used with an adjective that acts like a noun to mean all of the people concerned The poor are always with us. — Used with superlatives forms of adjectives and adverbs. You are the best.

portrait Noun

— A portrait is a painting or picture of a person's head and shoulders. The portrait of the former queen sold for several million dollars. — If you print something in the portrait setting, whatever is printed will have a shorter width and a larger height.

of Preposition

— Made using. It is a house of cards.

a Determinative

— A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type. Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".

a Noun

— A is the first letter of the alphabet. The letter "a" comes before "b". — In some schools, an A is a very high grade. Ron got an A on his earth science test.

lady Noun

— A polite way of saying "woman". Please direct this lady to the soft furnishings department. — The wife of a lord or a woman who holds the office in her own right. Lady Diana was very popular with the British people. — A polite woman who is respected. Mary, please try to act more like a lady in public. If you are not ladylike, you will not be seen as a lady.