The or A
(In a park)
Kid: I want to pedal a duck boat.
Mom: Where's [the/a] duck boat?
Kid: Over there. (Pointing to many duck boats parking on a pond)

Do I use "the" or "a" in the second line? And why?

I'm not sure because I think it could be both:
"a" because it's not a specific duck boat.
"the" because we know what duck boat we're talking about - which is duck boats in the park in general.

But I'm leaning towards "the". Am I right?

Thank you.

Question

The or A
(In a park)
Kid: I want to pedal a duck boat. 
Mom: Where's [the/a] duck boat? 
Kid: Over there. (Pointing to many duck boats parking on a pond)

Do I use "the" or "a" in the second line? And why?

I'm not sure because I think it could be both:
"a" because it's not a specific duck boat. 
"the" because we know what duck boat we're talking about - which is duck boats in the park in general.

But I'm leaning towards "the". Am I right?

Thank you.

Answer

You are right, in this case it will be “the”, because duck boat was mentioned before (by the kid)

Answers · 1

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