a vs. the 3

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Dec 2, 2009 00:34 article
(a) If a reader is too immature to understand well what is written in #a# book, the only thing he can do is to wait for himself to grow up.
(b) If a reader is too immature to understand well what is written in #the# book, the only thing he can do is to wait for himself to grow up.

Which article is appropriate in this context?
Should I regard as important the point that the "book" is first mentioned and select "a", or think "a reader" already indicates the existence of the book and select "the"?



Thank you in advance!!!
Ukryu
Dec 2, 2009 07:10
  • Should I regard as important the point that the "book" is first mentioned and select "a", or think "a reader" already indicates the existence of the book and select "the"?

  • Should I regard as important the point that the "book" is first mentioned as important and select "a", or think "a reader" already indicates the existence of the book and select "the"?

 

Both are correct, but have different uses. If you're talking about a specific book, you would use "the." For example:
1: "He tried reading 'The Iliad' but didn't understand it."
2: "If he's too immature to understand the book well....."

However, if you're talking about books in general, you would use (a).

M-K-G
Dec 4, 2009 16:42

OK I got it!

Thanks a lot, Ukryu (^o^)

Jonadab
Dec 7, 2009 04:00

> Which article is appropriate in this context?

You didn't give us enough context to answer that question. It depends on the preceding sentence(s), and particularly on whether the book in question has already been mentioned.

M-K-G
Dec 13, 2009 03:11

Oh I'm sorry, you are right, Jonatab.
Thank you for the indication!

I would like you to suppose that the speaker talks about a generality.
So, I expect you to take that "book" is not specified.
In this situation, is it possible that you select "the" because "a reader" appearing at the beginning of the sentence already implies the existence of a book which the reader reads?

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(a) If a reader is too immature to understand well what is written in #a# book, the only thing he can do is to wait for himself to grow up. (b) If a reader is too immature to understand well what is written in #the# book, the only thing he can do is to wait for himself to grow up. Which article i


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