Hello everyone,
Such measures should be determined by an urgent need.
What article should I use in the sentence above – a, the or no article?
And is there any difference between “urgent need” and “acute need”?
Thank you
“an” is most likely correct. However, the sentence overall is a little hard to judge without seeing the surrounding context.
There is not a huge difference in meaning between “urgent need” and “acute need”, but the latter is arguably even more pressing and immediate. “urgent need” is a significantly more common phrase though.
Thank you, Dozy.
Urgent conditions require immediate attention. Acute conditions, not necessarily.
Medical problems are divided into acute conditions and chronic conditions. That’s not to say one is more severe than the other. If your kidneys have failed, that’s a chronic condition, and if you don’t get dialysis on a regular basis, you die. If you get a paper cut, that’s an acute condition, but people survive them with or without treatment.
The word “acute” is often misused to mean “urgent”, just as many people use “literally” when they mean “figuratively”. I avoid using “acute” and “literally” for that reason; I figure it’s more important to use words which are more likely to be understood.
The question is about “acute/urgent need”. An “acute need” requires immediate attention just as much an “urgent need” does, if not more so.
Acute needs do NOT necessarily require immediate treatment.
Ebola is an acute condition, but it is not urgent, because no matter what care is given them, rhey die within a couple of days. A summer cold is an acute condition, but the body recovers as quickly without treatment as with it.
Triage divides patients into three groups. The first group is hopeless regardless of treatment. The second group benefits from immediate treatment. The third group gets well just as fast without treatment as with it.
Acute doesn’t say anything about severity; it only indicates that it’s not a chronic condition.
I disagree. A need is a need, and requires attention. You keep talking about a “condition”, focusing on a medical condition, which wasn’t even mentioned in the original question.
Many thanks to everyone again!