Tendency, Readiness

Question

"He has a tendency to forget things"
"He has the tendency to forget things"
Are the previous sentences correct? And if they are, do they have the same meaning?

Also, do we say, "He has the readiness for new ideas" or "He has a readiness for new ideas"?

GPY · Accepted Answer

DirtyGame"He has a tendency to forget things" "He has the tendency to forget things"Are the previous sentences correct? And if they are, do they have the same meaning?

"a tendency" is usual and is preferable in my opinion. I would not say that "the tendency" is actually wrong though. I do not see any difference in meaning.

DirtyGameAlso, do we say, "He has the readiness for new ideas" or "He has a readiness for new ideas"?

Normally you should use "a readiness". "the readiness" seemed wrong to me when I first read it, but there may be a sense (something like "enough readiness") in which it could be acceptable, along the lines of a sentence like "he has the flexibility to manage". It is quite a subtle point.

Tendency, Readiness

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions