Articles in a metaphorical sentence
Hi!
In my English class, we bumped into a problem regarding a certain sentence in an exam.
“Jack Kilby will always be remembered as the inventor of A device that is THE engine of the information age.”
The articles written in caps are what we discussed. I would agree that the A could be considered wrong, but I don't see why I can't use THE in the second case, it seems quite natural to me.

Also, there was another sentence I'm not so sure about. “Jack Kilby is an engineer. He is A man who in 1958 invented…“ Aren't both allowed here? (I do see the slight change in the feel/meaning of the sentence that would happen.)

Thank you very much for your help.

Question

Articles in a metaphorical sentence
Hi!
In my English class, we bumped into a problem regarding a certain sentence in an exam.
“Jack Kilby will always be remembered as the inventor of A device that is THE engine of the information age.”
The articles written in caps are what we discussed. I would agree that the A could be considered wrong, but I don't see why I can't use THE in the second case, it seems quite natural to me.

Also, there was another sentence I'm not so sure about. “Jack Kilby is an engineer. He is A man who in 1958 invented…“ Aren't both allowed here? (I do see the slight change in the feel/meaning of the sentence that would happen.)

Thank you very much for your help.

Answer

Hi,
I agree with your view on the first sentence: “Jack Kilby will always be remembered as the inventor of A device that is THE engine of the information age.” makes perfect sense to me. You could potentially use "THE device" if you were talking about one specific device. I suppose that you could say "AN engine..." but it sounds unnatural to me.
I think in the second sentence that "THE man" is more correct - he is the specific man who in 1958 invented a device. However, you are right to think that you could change it to "A" with a slight change in meaning.

Hopefully that helps to clear it up.

Ross

Answers · 1

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