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English: A vs. An

365 points · 529 comments · azhenley

  1. abraxas · · focus · HN ↗
    What gets me as a non-native speaker far more than "a vs an" is the "a vs the" conundrum. I still don't quite get when something needs to be "indefinite" and I've been speaking English for close to forty years. My native tongue lacks articles altogether and it's soo bloody hard I feel hopeless I'll ever master them fully.
    1. devindotcom · · focus · HN ↗
      don't worry too much. english is such a muddled tongue to begin with that there are many ways of saying something "correctly" and few if any of us know them all. anyone who quibbles over some fine verbal point is probably not someone whose opinion you should value!

      that said I know in business communication this kind of thing can be less forgiving. i will say that grammar and syntax checking for non native speakers is one of the few very beneficial applications of LLMs.

      1. NuclearPM · · focus · HN ↗
        Tongue?
        1. scubbo · · focus · HN ↗
          In this sense, it's a synonym for "language". Usually used as "mother tongue" (meaning, the language one grew up speaking).
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