Articles

0Dear teachers,02br
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00I’m a reader who often refers to this column. The explanations you gave to us, non-native English users, are excellent.02br
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00Today, I really need your help. In my job, I have to revise a manual in English, which is a software instruction guide for a medical analyzer. In this manual, the procedures are outlined with many input panels. What I would like to know is the appropriate way of article usage in those procedures. For example, a general purpose of an input panel is described in step 1, with an image of the window panel. On the panel, there are some items to be input by users. Step 2 tells the users that how they should input those items. In this case, which of the article “a” or “the” do I have to use when I indicate the name of them? The followings are an example of the instruction. 02br
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00Step 2: Input the search items.02br
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00The available search terms are Sample No., Patient ID, First Name, Last Name and Doctor. 02br
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00Sample No. Input01u00 (a/the/-)02u00 sample number, up to 15 characters.02br
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00Patient ID Input01u00 (a/the/-)02u00 patient ID, up to 16 characters.02br
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00First Name Input 01u00(a/the/-)02u00 First Name, up to 20 characters.02br
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00Last Name Input 01u00(a/the/-)02u00 Last Name, up to 20 characters.02br
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00Doctor Input 01u00(a/the/-)02u00 name of doctor, up to 20 characters02br
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00From my knowledge of articles, in this case, I should use “a” for each sentence because each item is not known for the users even though a window panel and other instruction show the name of those items. But, I’m not confident so I would like you to make me clear in this point. In addition, if I have to use those items in later pages, should I use “the” for them, or it makes Native English speaker perplexed?02br
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00Much appreciated.0-