The paper shows that two key principles of communication (the Shared Knowledge Principle and the Economy Principle), which monitor the framing of all well–formed referring expressions, are manifest in a specialized mode in the framing of focal specific indefinite referring expressions. It is suggested that the special features associated with this type of reference pose a challenge for a group of advanced learners whose L1 is Cantonese. The strategies that these learners adopt in framing this category of indefinite referring expressions are examined and compared to those customarily used by educated native speakers. Pedagogical implications are explored.