Englishfor English speakers
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
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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.
qual
noun
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(usually, in the plural) Qualifying exam. An exam taken by someone (usually a grad student or prospective grad student) to measure their mastery in something, usually an academic field.