- 'a' Mini toolbar. Common? Proper?

[Aikuzo]

From the Microsoft Word 2007 book: The first sentence of the paragraph is selected, and a Mini toolbar displays above and to the right of the selected text.

My take:

toolbar = common noun.
Mini = ?
Mini toolbar = Proper noun?

I think it's like you can't use "There's a John" but you can use "There's a Walmart on most cities". Am I missing some rules on "a"?

[Josef Essberger]

Am I missing some rules on "a"?

No: you're relying too much on Microsoft. Microsoft's software is riddled with bugs. Why wouldn't its English be too? It's the same with many apparent "authorities". You will often find mistakes on CNN, BBC etc. Even on EnglishClub.com

Having said that, without further context it's impossible to comment with certainty on Microsoft's sentence. It might be correct.

If "Mini toolbar" were a proper noun, it would be "Mini Toolbar".

However, we also have proper adjectives, which are capitalized. A proper adjective is an adjective based on a name or proper noun. Perhaps, in Microsoft's literature, "Mini" is a name and it's used here as a proper adjective with the common noun "toolbar". In that case the "a" refers to the countable noun "toolbar" and is perfectly acceptable.

(As in: "This is a classic Aikuzo question" - where the noun "question" is separated from the indefinite article "a" by two adjectives, one being a proper adjective.)

Or perhaps it's just sloppy writing and should be:
"The first sentence of the paragraph is selected, and a mini toolbar displays above and to the right of the selected text."

Unless you give much more context, one can't say

For your final suggestion, it should normally be: "There's a Walmart store in most cities." However, some brand names become so common (Biro, Hoover, google) that they are used as normal nouns and verbs, and in practice many people really would say: "There's a Walmart in most cities."

[Aikuzo]

It's starting to make sense. I'll be working on this one - thanks!

[Aikuzo]

So other than that, the rules are still the same w/ articles right?

- This is classical Aikuzo questions
- There are Walmart stores in most cities
- I used a marketing strategy called the Joel's method before.

Oh... in case it's called "The Joel's method" instead of just "Joel's method.... can I just write it as:

"I used a marketing strategy called The Joel's method."?