Timeline for "You're using THE wrong formula" vs. "You're using A wrong formula": choosing between the definite and the indefinite article
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 27, 2017 at 4:37 | history | edited | Jasper | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Deleted thanks.
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| Feb 27, 2017 at 3:42 | answer | added | Sophie Swett | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 5:44 | comment | added | CowperKettle | Related: 'You are asking a wrong person' vs. 'You are asking the wrong person' | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 5:29 | comment | added | CowperKettle | Related: 'A wrong answer' vs. 'the wrong answer' (on ELU SE) | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 5:15 | history | edited | CowperKettle | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited title
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| Jul 6, 2016 at 4:43 | history | edited | CowperKettle | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 4 characters in body; edited tags
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| Jul 6, 2016 at 3:27 | history | migrated | from english.stackexchange.com (revisions) | ||
| Jul 6, 2016 at 3:22 | comment | added | MoondogsMaDawg | It depends on how specific the formula you are relating to is. If you are the speaker and are pointing out that "the" incorrect formula is used in step 3 out of 10, then that is the proper usage. But to say that out of 10 steps they used "the" incorrect formula is an error, because you did not specify which step was incorrect. It's in this instance that you use "a." "In step 3 you used the incorrect formula." (specific) "In your calculations you used an incorrect formula." (vague and ambiguous) (Both statements are proper usage) | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 3:10 | comment | added | guestIam | @ChristopherD. That was the logic I was lost in. You can say "the" to talk about that specific formula one is using, emphasizing THAT formula and singularity. However, I didn't know if using "a" is valid, but according to ChuckLeviton, it is not. If I am just referring to the formula and emphasizing the type of formula, which is the wrong type, I should be able to use "a", as there are an infinite number of wrong formulas you can possibly get. So why is using "a" invalid here? | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 2:27 | answer | added | Hot Licks | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 1:06 | comment | added | MoondogsMaDawg | Your example is ambiguous, but I think @ChuckLeviton has the idea. When you talk about correct instead of wrong formulas, a and the are more important to get right. If you were "using the correct formula" instead, using a means there is more than one way to solve the problem. Using the means there is only one way to solve the problem. When you speak in the negative (wrong formulas), saying the could be considered presumptuous. How could they know how many wrong ways there are to do something? I would consider this a forgivable error nonetheless. | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 0:37 | answer | added | ChuckLeviton | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 0:09 | history | asked | guestIam | CC BY-SA 3.0 |