"a part of" vs "part of"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
21

to some extent, i got it thanks mordant and thanks haihao.

but the example of the cake < why can we say (i ate part of the cake) ?

22

You can say ‘I ate part of the cake’. Mordant has already confirmed that both your ‘cake’ examples are correct.

1 Like
23

yes i know that, but what does it mean then

i ate a real part of the cake

another qusetion

can i say " i ate delicious part of the cake " without “a” ??

a third one

i want to know which is best because there is a question

i am (part – a part) of this team.

choose

or the question itself isn’t accurate ??

24

I ate part of the cake = I ate some of the cake
I ate a part of the cake = I ate some of the cake.
There is very little difference. It is possible that sometimes the ‘a’ indicates a more formal division, a single portion.
Usually you could use either.

You would not normally use ‘delicious’ where you have put it in the sentence, but if you did, you would need ‘a’.
“I ate (a) part of the delicious cake.”
“I ate a large part of the cake.” not “I ate large part…”.

“I am part of this team” I belong to/in this team.
“I am a part of this team” I am one of the members of this team.

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25
  1. “I ate a part of the cake” simply means you ate a portion of it. Since you cannot eat a fake part of a cake, saying you ate a real part of one is redundant.

I’ve answered your second question already. If you are going to use an adjective with a singular noun, an article is required for “part.” Any such example you generate will fall under this rule. Therefore, you cannot say “I ate delicious part of the cake.” That is illiterate. You must say “I ate a delicious part of the cake.”

*I was big part of his success. - Wrong
I was a big part of his success. - Correct
*He is important part of my life - Wrong
He is an important part of my life - Correct
*She was key part of his demise. - Wrong
She was a key part of his demise. - Correct
*Practice is indispensable part of understanding. - Wrong
Practice is an indispensable part of understanding. - Correct

It’s iron-clad.

  1. They will be understood in largely the same way, so there is no obvious reason to prefer one to the other. The choice is yours, and you will hear both extremely frequently. There are many times when multiple options are equally acceptable, and this is one.
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26

ok… thanks

one more thing

you said

Your sentence would read like this:
My friend and I are an effective part of the team.
My friend and I are effective parts of the team.

why was the second right here not wrong ?

1 Like
27

The second is not wrong because we have two subjects, which I can see as two separate and distinct components of the team (i.e., two parts).

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28

Let’s perform an addition, Ahmed:

(My friend is an effective part of the team) + (I am an effective part of the team) = My friend and I are (two) effective parts of the team.

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29

o.k. but i can’t say “i and my friend are effective part of the team” ,can i ?

if this sentence is wrong , then i understood it.

30

Then you must have understood it Ahmed, as that sentence is wrong.

31

Ahmed, most of your sentences are wrong because you never seem to capitalize the personal pronoun ‘I’ and you don’t start your sentences with a capital letter.

TOEIC listening, talks: A company president gives a speech at a corporate event