I mean, does some context exist, where the indefinite article can be used? I know that we say "a day of the week" and "a month of the year", because we talk about an item of the set, but still, can it be used the way I mentioned?
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2The problem with saying "Friday is a day of a week" is that it carries the unspoken implication that only one or more weeks out of all of them have a Friday in them. We say "day of the week" because every single week in existence will have a Friday, and we know this.– John CliffordCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 9:19
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1Definite vs indefinite articles are usually a matter of specificity. For example, I would say "Friday is a day of the week" because a week has seven days and Friday is only one of them; in this context I'm drawing no particular attention to where in the week Friday lies, just saying that of the seven days making a week up, Friday is one of them. However, I would say "Friday is the fifth day of the week" because I'm now being specific about which of the seven days is Friday, and there is only one fifth day.– John CliffordCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 9:23
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1"Friday is a day of a week" is a very odd-sounding sentence. If a fluent English speaker said that I would wonder what point he or she was trying to make. By contrast, a sentence like "What are the names of the days of the week in French?" is perfectly normal.– ghostarbeiterCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 9:56
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1The normal word is weekday. Friday is a weekday.– rogermueCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 11:04
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One might say "Friday is a day of a week, but you haven't yet told us which week you're talking about."– Hot LicksCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 12:35
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"Here's what a Friday of a typical hectic week looks like. You are exhausted from several consecutive days of uninterrupted work..."
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2I had similar thoughts. If we are allowed to tweak the words inside the quotation, then, yes, we can jam in an indefinite article. (My example was: Friday is the last day of a work week.) But I'm having trouble thinking of a good example where we'd say "Friday is a day of a week” without adding or changing any words inside the quotation marks. Maybe Friday is a day of a week of the month, but I don't know how realistic that is.– J.R.Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 9:46