  Let $\theta >2$ be real and non-integral with integer part $n = \lfloor
\theta \rfloor$ and let $ \phi (x)$ be a generalised polynomial with leading
term $x^\theta.$ We establish a mean value estimate for the exponential sum
\begin{equation*} \sum_{1 \leq x \leq P} e \left(\alpha_1 x + \cdots + \alpha_n
x^n + \alpha_\phi \phi (x) \right). \end{equation*}
