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"Do we send her home to a house that hasn't been disinfected - because disinfecting teams aren't functioning."

In the sentence above, does "a house" mean any house or her house? I find it confusing because the sentence used "home", which is an adverb and implies "her house". But, at the same time, it used the indefinite article "a" before "house", which implies the "house" is not a particular house but any house that has not been disinfected. If the "house" were her house, I though using "the house, has not been disinfected" would be more appropriate because we know what particular house the sentence refers to.

Is my reasoning wrong?

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    In practice, it is usually not necessary to expend so much brainpower on trying to parse the implications of a particular grammatical construction. The context of the sentence in question will usually make it perfectly obvious which of multiple potential meanings applies.
    – Erik Kowal
    Commented Oct 9, 2014 at 8:34
  • The indefinite article "a" has a specific significance in this context. It stands for the nature/state/condition of the noun. Please visit English Language Learners
    – Kris
    Commented Oct 10, 2014 at 5:47

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It means "her house". Let's look at the options:

  • "Do we send her home to a house that hasn't been disinfected" - We are about to send her to her house, and her house has not been disinfected. Is it appropriate that we send her to a house such as that?

  • "Do we send her home to the house that hasn't been disinfected" - There is one house that both you and I can identify that hasn't been disinfected, and we're sending her there. Is that appropriate?

  • "Do we send her home to her house that hasn't been disinfected" - She has several houses and one of them is still not disinfected. That is the one we're about to send her to. Is that appropriate?

This is because it is read as a restrictive sentence - "a (house that hasn't been disinfected)" - rather than a non-restrictive sentence - "(a house), that (hasn't been disinfected)".

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  • What has the "a" to do with her?
    – Kris
    Commented Oct 10, 2014 at 5:48
  • See also, Edwin Ashworth's answer below.
    – Kris
    Commented Oct 10, 2014 at 5:49
  • @Kris: They are all determiners? I could also have put in "Helen's" or "those", but they would profoundly change the meaning of the sentence. "a", "the" and "her" are close enough for the comparison to be relevant and interesting.
    – Amadan
    Commented Oct 10, 2014 at 5:56
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This is a common occurrence in English.

I don't want to arrive back at a cold house. [My house, unless context points to another one.]

My John is such a loving husband.

Rex is a faithful dog.

I've filled the car; I don't want my husband having to deal with an empty tank as well as having to drive 400 miles.

The man is a buffoon.

This coupling of a particular referent with a general classifier possibly with attribute uses the indefinite article with the general attribute / classifier.

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Home is not a place. It is an idea, which is why 'home' keeps changing as you go through life, and the house that was once your home becomes somebody elses home.

So, when we get to the house-that-hasn't-been-disinfected in that sentence, it is the first reference to the house and an indefinite article is appropriate. In fact, it is doubly appropriate as sending her to any not-disinfected-house would be a bad idea, whether it is her home or not.

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