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I came across the mention of tuples, and had to look up what that was.

I came across a mention of tuples, and had to look up what that was.

I think that "a" is more logical here, because this was the first mention of tuples in the text, and therefore it was unknown both to me and the reader who is reading my text.

However, I found numerous instances of "came across the mention", like this one on Google Books:

A few years after writing Warrior Scarlet, I came across the mention in an old book of a flint celt that had been dug up on my stretch of the Downs.

Which option is better then? Is there no difference between "I came across the mention of /something/" and "I came across a mention of /something/"?

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  • I think the best option in your cited context is the zero article (nothing between the verb came across and the actual noun mention). Here's a relevant usage chart showing that plenty of writers would agree with my choice.
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 22, 2022 at 11:37
  • ...and here's another chart showing that almost everyone goes for the zero article if we change the verb to heard rather than came across. Why bother learning two versions, if one will work okay for all contexts? And forget any "logic" - all three versions mean exactly the same.
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 22, 2022 at 11:40

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"The" is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; "a/an" is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call "the" the definite article and "a/an" the indefinite article.

the = definite article

a/an = indefinite article

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book.

In this context, the mentioning of tuples is quite general and vague, not specifying what tuple e.g. and just saying there was a mention of tuples, so "a" might be preferred here.

Example you gave:

A few years after writing Warrior Scarlet, I came across the mention in an old book of a flint celt that had been dug up on my stretch of the Downs.

"the" is being used here as it is very specific that the book mentioned the "flint celt that had been dug up on my stretch of the Downs".

Read more about articles on the/a/an here

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