"a" or "the"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi everyone,
I’ve found this on Delta’s book for TOEFL and I think it’s not correct, Would you please tell me if I am right or wrong about this?

“Which fact should be included in a biography of Dorothy Reed Mendenhall?”
And I think the correct sentence is:
“Which fact should be included in the biography of Dorothy Reed Mendenhall?”

Kind regards

2

Hi,

Not really. ‘A’ suggests ‘one’. After all there can be more than one biography.

Alan

3

Thanks Alan for the answer.

Mixmixi

4

Allan you mean using "the " is completely incorrect?No way?

5

Hi Mzahed,

albeit I´m not Alan, I dare mention that the article “the” not necessarily was wrong.

What Alan refered to was that if there isn´t linked to a very special biography of that special person and since there might be several ones the article “a” was right…because it´s indefinite.

Another kettle of fish is, when there are several biographies and the writer refered to a very special one the definite article “the” must be used.

Hope this helped

Michael

6

Thanks Foah