As the other members have told you, the correct form is ‘a year’. This is because the sound represented by the letter ‘y’ is a consonant (like b,c,d,f,g and so on). We use ‘an’ before vowel sounds – ‘an apple’, ‘an egg’, ‘an Indian’, ‘an orange’ or ‘an umbrella’. Remember that this is a rule about SOUNDS, not spelling.

adjective. of, for, or pertaining to a year; yearly: annual salary. occurring or returning once a year: an annual celebration.

We use once as an adverb to mean ‘one single time’:

1. I’ve only met Jane’s husband once. (
2. They go for dinner together once a month. (
3. I see him once every two or three weeks.
4. My father once worked on an oilrig.
5. The Millers once owned a dairy farm.
6. She was once a schoolteacher but she hated it.

Once sentence example

1. Once again she sighed deeply.
2. Once into the woods, she began to relax.
3. I expect you to repay me once it’s sold.
4. Not once did he look in their direction.
5. All the people of the world were once Egyptians.
6. All at once a light flashed out from the tower.
7. Once again he had caught her napping.

past tense

When “one’s” is a contraction of “one is” it also requires an apostrophe: “no one’s listening,” “this one’s for you.” The only times “ones” has no apostrophe are when it is being used to mean “examples” or “people” as in “ripe ones” or “loved ones,” or in the informal arithmetical expression “the ones column.”

But in fact, “these ones” is grammatical. True, the pronoun “these” can stand on its own in a sentence like “I prefer these.” But when you add “ones” after it, it doesn’t create a grammatical error, it just creates a new grammatical structure. In “I prefer these ones,” the word “these” is no longer a pronoun.

What is another word for one?

What is another word for firstly?

Some common synonyms of singular are eccentric, erratic, odd, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, strange, and unique. While all these words mean “departing from what is ordinary, usual, or to be expected,” singular suggests individuality or puzzling strangeness.

singular(adj) composed of one member, set, or kind. Antonyms: plural form, plural, common, familiar, ordinary, dual, multiple.

adjective. special; exceptional; outstanding: of no especial importance; an especial friend. of a particular kind, or peculiar to a particular one; particular: your especial case.

(Entry 1 of 2) 1a : of or relating to a separate person or thing : individual. b : of, relating to, or being a word form denoting one person, thing, or instance a singular noun. c : of or relating to a single instance or to something considered by itself.

The word “singular” denotes a quantity of one. ” Singular” contrasts with plural, which denotes more than one. For example: One shark / three sharks. (The word “shark” is singular, but “sharks” is plural.)

If you look at one object and name it, you have an example of a singular noun. For example there is one lamp on my bookcase and one chair at my desk. In these examples the nouns lamp, bookcase, chair, and desk are all singular because they indicate only one.

So basically, both person and people can be used as singular nouns, people can be used as a plural noun and persons and peoples are also acceptable plural forms. I would say that these days, using people as a singular noun and both peoples and persons are fairly uncommon and do sound quite formal.

Both of these words are used in the present perfect continuous tense, however differ in tense. ‘Has been’ is more commonly used to third person tense, while ‘have been’ can be used for both first person and second person. It can also be used as a plural form for third person.