Thinker
The ability to notice / An ability to notice Why does the phrase take a definite article? 'The ability to notice' An ability to see An ability to read an ability to adapt to changing circumstances or whatever it is, it should take an indefinite article unless the speaker has one particular ability in mind what I'm familiar with. Why on earth is it the ability to notice? 2) If I see the phrase 'The genius of contradiction' what am I supposed to think of? What specific genius is meant? It wasn't introduced before and no other clue was left. This is just crazy how natives go about definiteness
Oct 5, 2019 7:03 PM
Answers · 1
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If you know what you are talking about you always use "The" at the beginning of the phrase. If you do you know about the object, or you are not sure, or you are talking about something unknown you use "a" or "an" in singular mode only. English native speakers usually understand if you use the wrong format. It looks odd. Please note sometimes you don't use "a" or "an" or "the" at all even if you are going to use a singular word after that. It is something related to the structure of the English language. As you get more familiar with the langauge you can understand them all yourself.
October 5, 2019
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