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English: A vs. An

365 points · 529 comments · azhenley

  1. theanonymousone · · focus · HN ↗
    The most problematic for me as a non-native has been "the" vs "nothing", i.e. when one can/should put the definite article.

    Pre-LLM I was joking that real AI is whatever can make that decision correctly 100% of times.

    1. geocar · · focus · HN ↗
      Try making it with "a" - if thing can be "a thing" then it could be "the thing" but if it can't be "a thing" it definitely can't be "the thing" either.
      1. m12k · · focus · HN ↗
        Right on the money!
        1. geocar · · focus · HN ↗
          In the 16th century, being "on the money" meant an arrow or a dart being on (or near) a specific physical coin (i.e. the money), like in a tossing or shooting bar-bet.

          Being on merely a money (or some money) would likely not be as impressive in said circumstances, and so whilst being grammatically possible in English, it shouldn't seem so likely the sort of thing anyone would ever have had to say.

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