What's the best option between the articles?

Question

Please tell me which option would be the best to go with (imagine that I'm wiriting a requirment for the software to be developed):

1. Any client who wants to make a support request should fill out the form №1 first.
2. The client who wants to make a support request should fill out the form №1 first.

For me, the meaning of the first sentence is "Any clinet who wants to make a support request..." and the meaning of the second is "The one who wants to make a support request...". Or should we use the definite article here beacuse the client means shared knowledge? Is that correct? And which one is better.

P.S. Could you please correct me if I have made any mistakes.

Answer 1

In standard English we would normally say:

A client who wants to make a support request should fill out (a) form №1.

You could say 'any client' or 'a client', but I think 'any client' sounds a tad impersonal. You don't use 'the client' unless there is only one client who will ever make a support request. As there is likely to be more than one client who will make such a request, we use 'a' or 'any' to indicate that this instruction applies to all of them. You could also replace 'A client who wants' with 'Clients who want'.

The "a" in brackets is optional. We don't use 'the' before 'form' because it is likely that there will be a pile of such forms, and the client can fill out any one of them.

If the form No.1 is the actual support request, then you do not have to use the word 'first' as there should not be any need for the client to submit anything else. However, if the clients need to submit form No.1 before they can submit a support request, then the word 'first' is appropriate. in this case, you can either place 'first' at the end of the sentence or after 'should' e.g.:

A client who wants to make a support request should fill out (a) form №1 first.

A client who wants to make a support request should first fill out (a) form №1.