3.5 percent or a 3.5 percent?

Question

1. I have two sentences that are in doubt but presuming they are correct, can you tell me why one is be proper to have an article while the other is not?

The interest rate is 3.5 percent.

Unemployment, already a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further ...

2. Why is there an article "a" rather than "the" or the absence of any of them?

There is a Garden of Eden somewhere out there.

Julielai · Accepted Answer

This one does not sound right. Perhaps it should be:

The unemployment rate, already at a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further ...

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

1. I have two sentences that are in doubt but presuming they are correct, can you tell me why one is be proper to have an article while the other is not?

The interest rate is 3.5 percent.

Unemployment, already a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further ...

I agree with Julie that it should be 'The unemployment rate', but although 'at' is possible, I don't think it is necessary.

The article is used because the speaker is thinking of a variety of possible interest rates. You could say 'The unemployment rate, already 3.5 percent', but the presence of 'low' requires 'a'.

2. Why is there an article "a" rather than "the" or the absence of any of them?

There is a Garden of Eden somewhere out there.

Because the speaker is using 'Garden of Eden' to refer to a whole possible range of places that are like the Garden of Eden.

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

Unemployment is [3.5 percent / at a low level, namely, 3.5 percent / a low 3.5 percent].
Many levels of unemployment are considered low. Current unemployment is at one of these low levels, i.e., at a certain low level.

Similarly,

Unemployment is a [whopping / huge] 6.7 percent. (a particular, certain level considered whopping/huge)

CJ

BW2/3 · Answer

CliveHi guys,

1. I have two sentences that are in doubt but presuming they are correct, can you tell me why one is be proper to have an article while the other is not?

The interest rate is 3.5 percent.

Unemployment, already a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further ...

I agree with Julie that it should be 'The unemployment rate', but although 'at' is possible, I don't think it is necessary.

The article is used because the speaker is thinking of a variety of possible interest rates. You could say 'The unemployment rate, already 3.5 percent', but the presence of 'low' requires 'a'.

Clive, why it is necessary an indefinite article is required before the adjective " low " ?

Thanks

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

Unemployment, already a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further ...

The article is used because the speaker is thinking of a variety of possible interest rates. You could say 'The unemployment rate, already 3.5 percent, but the presence of 'low' requires 'a'.

why it is necessary an indefinite article is required before the adjective " low " ?

There is only one 3.5 percent, but when you start attaching adjectives to it, it sounds like there are different kinds of 3.5 percent, eg a low 3.5 percent, a high 3.5 percent, a surprising 3.5 percent, etc.

Best wishes, Clive

Cool Breeze · Answer

Hi all

I agree with the previous posters. Using the articles, especially the indefinite articles a and an, is perhaps the most difficult aspect of English grammar. Although the grammar is mostly so simple that it couldn't be made much simpler even if English were an artificial language, there are so many exceptions to the use of the articles that the foreign learner is constantly in for surprises.

A and an are often used in connection with adjectival attributes with nouns that take no article at all or take the definite article (the). Some examples:

I had lunch. But: I had a good lunch.
Birds are flying in the sky. Birds are flying in a blue sky.
We met Tom Brown yesterday. We met a sad Tom Brown yesterday.

Believer · Answer

Thank you.

Here in the original sentence, "The interest rate is 3.5 percent," I presume that the phrase "3.5 percent" is a complement for the subject "the interest rate." The word percent is a countable noun and normally, one needs to have an article in front of it but here there is no article. Is the number "3.5" serving as a sort of article? Or is it that no article is necessary because it is describing/explaining the subject like these:

He is Janpanese. He is male.

So, as to your sentence, "Unemployment (rate) is a 6.7 percent.", how would you categorize the elements involved in grammatical terms, especially the part "a 6.7 percent"?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

The word percent is a countable noun Not really. 'Per cent' actually consists of two Latin words, which mean 'per hundred'. When you say 3 percent, you are saying '3 per 100.' Thus, articles are not really required or involved.

In the phrase 'a low 3.5 percent', the use of the adjective signals that you are thinking of '3.5 percent' as a kind of logical unit, and for that reason you need an article. Another example is when you are talking about your homework and you could say 'I only got a 60 percent. I get a lot of 60 percents.'

Best wishes, Clive

3.5 percent or a 3.5 percent?

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