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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
The/an ideal time
There's a sentence in my textbook: "This is the ideal time to visit the sandy beaches of southern Norway." Could anyone explain to me why there is the definite article. I know such phrases as "a good/bad/suitable time to do smth", so I thought that we should write "this is an ideal time to ...". Is that right too or not?
I'm looking forward to any answers.
I'm looking forward to any answers.
Top answer
Both "the" and "an" work in this sentence. "the" implies that this is the single ideal time, while "an" implies that this is one of a number of ideal times. In practice, however, there is not a great difference in usage because there is no objective way to establish how many "ideal times" there actually are.
- Both "the" and "an" work in this sentence.
- "the" implies that this is the single ideal time, while "an" implies that this is one of a number of ideal times.
- In practice, however, there is not a great difference in usage because there is no objective way to establish how many "ideal times" there actually are.
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1 Answers
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Both "the" and "an" work in this sentence. "the" implies that this is the single ideal time, while "an" implies that this is one of a number of ideal times. In practice, however, there is not a great difference in usage because there is no objective way to establish how many "ideal times" there actually are.
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