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   REPLY: 2:5023/24.4222 6571920c   
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   Hi, Gleb Hlebov!   
   I read your message from 07.12.2023 10:13   
      
    AK>> The same situation with steak:   
    AK>> "I had steak and kidney pie with chips" but probably is also correct   
   AK>> "I had a steak and (a) kidney pie with chips"   
      
    GH> I'm afraid you got it wrong here. "Steak & kidney pie" is "nee   
    GH> entity".   
      
   ========   
    GH> Steak and kidney pie is a popular British dish. It is a savoury pie   
    GH> filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney   
    GH> (which may be beef, lamb, veal, or pork) and onion. (google)   
   ========   
      
   "Steak and kidney pie" _are_ different dishes. "Steak" is just a piece of   
   meat, IMHO.   
      
    GH> Thus, the first one is the correct usage, the second makes no   
    GH> sense.   
      
    AK>> I also suspect that the more the speech is informal the less   
    AK>> articles it contains. ;-)   
      
    GH> I don't think there's such a connection, or dependency. But without   
    GH> tutors it's getting hard to settle this kind of dispute. :-)   
      
    GH> Again, I could try to explain the usage via some abstractions (this   
    GH> is how I believe it works):   
      
    GH> 1.  Mom: texts "Did you eat?"   
    GH>     Son: "Yeah sure"   
    GH>     M: "What was it"   
   - "What was it?"   
    GH>     S: "Steak and kidney pie with chips"   
    GH>     M: "Good"   
      
      
    GH> 2.  Friend: asks "So last night you went to that restaurant?"   
    GH>     Me: "Yeah"   
    GH>     F: "How was it?"   
    GH>     M: "Great, I had a steak and kidney pie, at last"   
      
   Why "at last"?   
      
    GH>     F: "THAT pie? For real? With chips?"   
    GH>     M: "Yeah, it's something else! Highly recommended."   
      
   -"else"? Maybe "Yeah, it's something! Highly recommended."   
      
      
   I should remark here that "a" before "steak" is also pertain to "kidney pie".   
      
    GH> Do you realize the difference between those two? Both are casual   
    GH> dialogue instances that can occur everyday everywhere.   
      
   I still don't see why I cannot use "a" in the first example. ;)   
      
   Bye, Gleb!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   fido.english_tutor 2023   
      
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