Why is the "a" article being used here?

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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jaroslavtavgen
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Why is the "a" article being used here?

Post by jaroslavtavgen »

From the CNBC article:
The Senate late Thursday passed a House-approved bill to raise the debt ceiling and cap government spending for two years, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk .
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/debt-ce ... dates.html

Why is the "a" article being used here? The article describes a specific one-of-a-kind bill that saves the country from a default, not just some random bill. Shouldn't "the" be used instead?
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Re: Why is the "a" article being used here?

Post by Alan »

The rules concerning use of articles are complex and it would go beyond the scope of this forum to explain them in full.

However, to put it simply: although there are a number of universally accepted special cases such as "the sun/the moon" etc., essentially if the item in question - here, a bill - has not been previously mentioned in the text, it is simply 'a (House-approved) bill', irrespective of its uniqueness from a political, or any other, viewpoint. (However, in any subsequent reference, it would naturally become "the bill".)
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