0
  1. I turned on the screen and it presented me a bunch of options. I clicked on one of the options to turn off the entire system.

In the above sentence does "one of the options" imply that there were multiple options to turn off the system or was there just one and I clicked that one of the options?

  1. I turned on the screen and it presented me a bunch of options. I clicked on an option to turn off the entire system.

Here I used "an option", can I use this if I know that the listener doesn't know that there was an option to turn off the system? So I used "an option". Is this correct even if there was only one option to turn off the system?

Improve this question
10
  • 4
    To me, both of them sound like there was more than one option that would turn off the system. If there was only one option that would turn off the system, I would say "the option to turn off the system."
    – stangdon
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 12:43
  • But what if the listener doesn't know there is an option to turn of the system, then I would have to use "an option" because it's indefinite.
    – English--more exc than laws
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 12:46
  • 2
    It doesn't matter if the listener knows that. There is still only one. I think you may not have grasped exactly what "indefinite" means - it means something like "one of any" or "an unspecified one", not "unknown". I'm not saying that an is completely wrong, it just seems slightly less common or fluent here.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 12:49
  • So I can use "a" or "one of the" if there are multiple items without having any subtle difference? For e.g. "He slammed the door with such impact that a glass on a nearby table fell down" So this means there were multiple glasses on the table?
    – English--more exc than laws
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 13:18
  • In your example about the glass, I don't think that "a glass on a nearby table" means there was more than one. "A glass" means "an arbitrary glass", possibly but not necessarily one of many. For example, I might look out the window and say, "I see a man with a green hat" - that doesn't mean I see more than one man but only one has a green hat, it simply means that I see one, of many men existing in the world; maybe I see other men with other hats and maybe I don't.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 16:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

1. I clicked on one of the options to turn off the entire system.

This does suggest there were several options to switch the system off.

There are several ways to rewrite it.

I clicked on the option to turn off the entire system.

I clicked on one of the options: to switch off the entire system.

Or, if the system was successfully turned off, you could say,

I clicked on one of the options and turned off the entire system.

Your second idea repeats "option" and sounds awkward.

Improve this answer
4
  • stangdon already came up with my first suggestion. It's the best one.
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 12:59
  • So I can use "a" or "one of the" if there are multiple items without having any subtle difference? For e.g. "He slammed the door with such impact that a glass on a nearby table fell down" So this means there were multiple glasses on the table?
    – English--more exc than laws
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 13:18
  • "A glass on a nearby table" does not tell us if it is the only glass. There may or may not be others. "The glass on a nearby table" tells us there is only one glass. "A glass on the nearby table" tells us there is only one table nearby.
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 13:42
  • So, in my 2nd sentence why is "an option" sounding awkward? It is not simply "an option" , it is "an option to turn off the entire system". Also please consider this example, "The man from your company called", so this means only one man called so it's "the man" which doesn't make sense.
    – English--more exc than laws
    Commented Jan 6, 2022 at 13:54

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .