Which one is correct, "the attribution" or "an attribution"?

Question

1. The attribution falls into two categories, the internal and the external.
2. An attribution falls into two categories, the internal and the external.
3. Attributions fall into two categories, the internal and the external.

Here the attribution means, according to Oxford dictionary that "the action or saying of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing."

Which of the three is correct when speaking IN GENERAL? Could you help me clarify it?

Answer 1

Given the lack of any context whatsoever, it is impossible to say whether "attribute" or "attribution" is the appropriate choice of word.

The X falls into two categories, the internal and the external is wrong (though in a subtle way). Presumably, that specific X may not fit into both categories, but the "and" means that the sentence literally says that specific X falls into both categories.

An X falls into two categories, the internal and the external suffers from the same problem, but it is more severe a problem because now it deals with every instance of an X.

X's fall into two categories, the internal and the external is OK but slightly ambiguous.

Depending on what you mean, I would go with either

An X falls into either the internal category or else the external category or

An X falls into the internal category, the external category, or both.

Answer 2

I would use:

4. Attributions fall into two categories, internal and external.

This is short for:

5. Attributions fall into two categories: internal attributions and external attributions.

In examples 4 and 5, the "and" joins the two kinds of attribution into a list. It does not imply that any particular attribution is both an internal attribution and an external attribution.

Examples 4 and 5 are similar to example 3. The key difference is that example 3 uses "the" before "internal" and "external". These "the"s make example 3 be short for:

6. Attributions fall into two categories: the category of internal attributions and the category of external attributions.

The two "the category of" phrases are unnecessary in example 6, so the two definite articles are unnecessary in example 3.