TITLE: Are there cyclic, free modules where the generating element isn't a basis?
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: Let $R$ be a ring, and $M$ a nontrivial cyclic, free $R$-module. Let $m$ generate $M$, so that $M = Rm$. Is it then the case that $m$ forms a basis for $M$, so that $\mbox{ann}_{R}(m) = (0)$?
I know that if $R$ is a domain or a commutative ring, it is easy to show that $m$ forms a basis. However, I am unsure as to whether or not it holds for general rings. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

REPLY [8 votes]: Let's take Georges proof and turn it into a counterexample (!)
Let $k$ be a field and $R$ the quotient of the free algebra $k\langle x,y, z\rangle$ by the ideal generated by $xy-1$ and $zy$. As a $k$-vector space, $R$ has a basis consisting of those non-commutative monomials which contain neither $xy$ nor $zy$ as subwords —this follows immediately from Bergman's Diamond Lemma, for example, or from a simple ad hoc argument (which surely will boil down to the Diamond lemma...)
Now $M=R$, viewed as a left $R$-module as usual, is generated by $m=y$, but of course $z\cdot m=0$, so $\{m\}$ is not a basis because $m$ has a non-trivial annihilator.
Notice that $M$ is of course free of rank $1$.