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I have the following phrase:

...could be the early detection of users who are likely to under-participate in the activity, as well as users who are likely to perform enough as required.

In this sentence, I wonder if I should better put the before each users or it is not necessary. As far as I know, there should be since the 'users' are further specified, but then it sounds a little redundant as well. Can someone help?

2 Answers 2

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It depends on how you can answer the question "which users?"

  • If your answer is "doesn't matter" or "any possible group of users who are likely to under-participate in the activity", then no article is needed.

  • If your answer is something like "a definite group of users, who are likely to under-participate in the activity, that I saw or was talking about before", use the.

  • If your answer is something like "well, I saw multiple groups of users, who are likely to under-participate in the activity, and I'm talking about at least one but not all of them", use some.

Who qualifies "users" but doesn't really affect the choice of article.

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No "the" is required the way I see it.

  • ...could be the early detection of users who are likely to under-participate in the activity, as well as users who are likely to perform enough as required.

You have two global categories of users that are unspecified.

See example:

  • We are talking about animals that leave in the woods, as well as animals living in the forest?
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  • 1
    Did you mean "is not required"? Jun 19, 2017 at 12:00
  • @user178049 Yes, I wrote that! "No "the" is required the way I see it." Jun 19, 2017 at 12:02
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    Damn. My eyes add a comma, I see"No, 'the' is required" Jun 19, 2017 at 12:04

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