On 2019-07-28 13:30, Cameron Simpson wrote:
On 28Jul2019 10:32, Peter Otten <__pete...@web.de> wrote:
Chris Angelico wrote:
When talking about indistinguishable objects, is it correct to talk
about "the <x>" or "an <x>"?
Example:
def f(s):
"""Frob a thing.
If s is an empty string, frobs all the things.
OR
If s is the empty string, frobs all the things.
"""
Slightly OT:
While I would write "an empty string" but happily accept "the empty string"
I stumbled upon "all *the* things". Shouldn't it be "all things"?
Real question as I'm not a native speaker.
The collection is "the things". "all" qualifies it, versus, say, "some
of the things" or "the first of the things" etc.
[snip]
It's strange that "all the things" (meaning "all of the things") is OK,
but otherwise it's "one of the things", "some of the things", etc.
That's English for you!
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