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The sentence below
A protocol is the language that a computer uses to communicate with other computers on the network.
Is the usage of a/the correct?
Can I change it to
A protocol is a language that computers use to communicate with other computers on a network.
And are there any good sites/books to know how I can use a/the/-s correctly?
Both of your examples look like normal usage to me.
Sorry for the short answer, but nothing else to add. I'm a native speaker, so have no suggestions for how to learn this, though looks like you already have!
Both sentences are correct.
Usually, the word "a" invites the listener to imagine a new object and add that object to their mental picture. The word "the," on the other hand, invites the listener to search their mental picture for an object which is already there.
So first, let's think about the first sentence:
A protocol is the language that a computer uses to communicate with other computers on the network.
This sentence is telling you the following:
Now let's think about the second sentence:
A protocol is a language that computers use to communicate with other computers on a network.
This sentence is telling you the following:
Both sentences are correct, and they mean practically the same thing.
(Actually, I think your sentence is a little bit better, because one computer uses many different protocols. The original sentence makes it sound like one computer uses only one protocol.)
Both examples you have given above are correct. It only depends upon the topic in which this sentence is used.
In my case I prefer to use 'the', because 'protocol' is a language that computer can use on more than one and on multi networks.
