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He came into the bedroom and kissed her forehead with a mouth smelling of toothpaste.

I think that "a" is correct. Is "the mouth" possible? I think that he has only one mouth?

The mouth he has is big.

He has a big mouth.

Correct?

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  • I would use a or his, but I can't give a reason.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 9:17
  • is the wrong???
    – user1425
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 12:45
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    It sounds unnatural to me - see Astralbee's answer.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 15:58

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When we are saying things like "I have a mouth", the indefinite article is perfectly correct. Using the indefinite article doesn't mean that we have more than one of something, it just acknowledges that there are many, of which we have one. Normally, we would refer to "my mouth" if we were referring to it in a way that distinguished it from others, but we do sometimes use the definite article, for example, "it hit me on the head", or "he kissed her on the lips".

In your specific example, using the indefinite article doesn't sound correct. Because it isn't just "a mouth" - it is "a mouth smelling of toothpaste". Because we use the definite article to determine something, if you said "the mouth smelling of toothpaste" it would sound you were saying he has a specific mouth that smells of toothpaste and perhaps some other mouths that smell of other things. It is similar to saying "I couldn't talk as I had a mouth full of food".

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  • Doesn't "a mouth" give an idea that the person can have more than one mouth?
    – user1425
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 12:47
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    @user1425 No, it only implies that there is more than one mouth in the world, or more than one mouth that smells like toothpaste. It's just like "I touched him with a feather" - it doesn't mean that I have more than one feather, just that we are talking about one random feather.
    – stangdon
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 15:20
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    @user1425 No, in fact, "the mouth" gives the impression he has more than one mouth. As Astralbee correctly says, it strongly suggests he could have come into the bedroom with some different mouth, as if he has several different mouths somewhere else in the house, and he chose to come in with the mouth smelling of toothpaste, rather than some other one.
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 19:08

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