AEE 2349: Should You Use the Article or the Number in English?
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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2349. Should you use the article or the number in English?

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Hello, Michelle. How's it going today? Good, Lindsay. Lindsay, I have a question for you. Okay, I'm ready. Okay, so what made you decide to get one dog?

Don't you mean a dog to get a dog? What made me decide to get a dog? - Oh, yeah, sorry, sorry about that. Yes, to get a dog. - Correcting you live on the spot here, Michelle. Yeah, I mean, that would be actually a different question, wouldn't it, Michelle? Because that would mean I was debating between two dogs. - One or two dogs. - And just one dog. So, which question were you asking? Is my question for you? - I was asking, it was a mistake. I meant to ask,

What made you decide to get a dog? - Yeah, it's true. Yes, oh, well, I can answer that. I just, I felt like, what was the pandemic? You know, the pandemic had just hit, it was April of 2020, and we just said, "Hey, it's now or never. We're gonna be working from home until eternity. And so we have time to raise a puppy." If you adopt a puppy, you have to be home to raise it. Otherwise you have a nightmare for 10 years.

And we were home. So we said, this is the time let's do it. Yeah. Nice. And I know you've been happy with Kiefer ever since. Oh, he's fantastic. Are you all going to get a dog at some point? You think you're going to add a dog to your family? At some point when my kids are just a little bit older right now, I think my son could be good with a dog, but I think I'm too nervous with the little one around dogs right now. That makes sense. That makes sense. So what are we talking about today, Michelle?

Okay, so it goes back to this mistake I made in the beginning. So we're going to talk because this is a pretty common one, Lindsay, you actually chose, you actually came up with this topic, right? Because it's something you see frequently. Yeah, I email with a provider, just a partner in Italy, and I often get an email from him and he'll say, can you please send me one invoice for payment? And every month it's the same, it's the same mistake. And every month I say, we need to fix that.

I thought this would be a great topic for today's episode, right? And what should he say instead of please send me one invoice for payment? Right. Probably say, please send me an invoice or please generate an invoice, right? Yes, exactly. Because it was never a debate between one invoice, two invoices, five invoices. No, it's about an invoice. Please send me an invoice for payment. So this is what we're getting into today.

Yeah, this is an interesting idea. This is very important. So because even though, yeah, it actually can impact meaning. It can kind of, to me, if you're listening to that and I say, like when I said, what made you decide to get one dog? It kind of feels like, wait, what? Wait, what?

you know it it makes things a little bit confusing so yes um it's this is really huge to cover i'm glad that you brought this to us today yeah this is a good one so let's break it down michelle what let's go into the details of what we need to know how do we know at first before we do that though let's remind our listeners to hit the follow button guys yes

go ahead and hit follow right here on All Ears English. It's the beginning of the year. It's a great time to get All Ears English into your daily routine. That's how we build connection and fluency. All right? - That's right, absolutely. So what's going on here? So A and Ann,

They mean one. So yeah, I wonder why we have to talk about the why you would choose a or and over one or the other. So yes, so because one means number one, and so does a and and so let's talk about which we would choose. How do we know? So what about a or an? Yeah, well, I think generally, when you're talking about or choosing a or an first of all, it's way more common.

right so 95 of the time you're going to say a or an and that's kind of the problem i'm seeing i'm seeing people just swapping in one instead of a or n it may be a translation from italian from spanish i have a feeling it could be that so it's more general and we're just talking about getting a dog right not not the number of dogs getting a dog

Okay, right, right. Whereas one that's a number right out here, right here We're using this more to actually emphasize the number either it's important the person hears this number or You want to emphasize that you're not talking about another number like we were talking about like one dog not two dogs, right? Or just the number is very important. So I

If the number isn't that important, I would say mostly stick with A or an. What do you think? 100%. Yeah. I mean, that's really the essence of the mistake that we're seeing and the solution, right? If the number doesn't matter, use A or an. And that means 95% of the time you're using A or an. Okay. Because we're usually talking about a thing, not a number of things or how many things. Right.

Right. Right. Okay. So let's go through some examples and see how this works. So I need a coffee versus I need one coffee. So how sound so well, of course it's really a cup of coffee,

right? But we say very, very commonly, we say I need a coffee. Yeah, no, that's true. So you might see someone wake up, maybe you're hosting a guest for the week or something, a house guest, they come down and they say, Oh, I need a coffee. They would not say I need one coffee. No, it's because they're saying they're rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

eyes, you know, they're stretching their arms. Oh, I need a coffee. You would never say I need one coffee that casually, that broadly. Right. Right. So that's more general. And the second one sounds like if you say I need one coffee, it sounds almost like you're giving a list of things that you need. Maybe you're maybe you are at the talking with a barista and you're

Okay, I need one coffee, two breakfast sandwiches, blah, blah, blah. Yes, exactly. Right? You walk into your cafe and you say, oh, I need one coffee. Exactly. You make a list. How many coffees do we need? Maybe you're bringing coffee back to your workplace at the office and you're putting it in those styrofoam, that carrier thing, right? I need one coffee. I need three coffees. Very different conversation.

All right. Exactly. Exactly. So what about the next example? You want to start us off on that? Yeah. We can say, please send the information in an email versus please send the information in one email. Now, what do we need to know here? Michelle? Same idea. The first one is more general, but the second one,

sounds maybe the person sent it in two emails or is confused, right? So maybe I sent you some, you asked me for some information and I just, I was sending it in a couple different emails and it was getting a little disorganized. You might say, Michelle, can you just send it to me in one email?

Yeah, totally. And this is an internal conversation we might have at our work. I know when we first started All Ears English, my original co-founders, we were starting to send emails with a thousand items in the same email. And she said, hey, just send one email per topic and have the subject line be that topic so we can because we use our emails kind of as an index, right, to find everything later.

And so that would be where the conversation of one email versus multiple emails would come in. But if you're just saying, hey, send me an email next week when you get back to work, you're not going to say send me one email next week. Right. Exactly. So or one more example here before we take a break is I made a new friend versus I made one new friend. Uh-huh. Very different. What's the difference there, Michelle?

So first one is more general. The second one sounds almost like maybe you're... The number is important. Either you're proud you made one new friend. Like, I made one new friend already, right? I don't know. It's just important. Or maybe you're complaining you haven't met more friends. So I've only met...

Made one new friend. Yes. I like what you're saying. The number is important, right? Either you're happy about that number or you're unhappy about that number, but you're highlighting that number versus with the first one. I made a new friend. You're highlighting the word friend. That's right. Matters, right? Good point. Good point. Yes.

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okay Michelle we have one more example this one's a common phrase can you give me a second can you give me a second versus can you give me one second okay what do we feel about the difference here

to me it can be I mean it could be both can you give me one second but again the number is more important and also to me the second example with one second sounds almost like maybe that person is being impatient and you're you just really need us can you give me one second right you're kind of emphasizing it yeah it might be the second time you're saying that right they're being impatient oh come on just one more second or one second

You might say two seconds in that case too, right? Exactly, exactly. So again, it's not that one is wrong, but it does make you sound more fluent and natural if you know the general differences. And I think we boiled it down to one, main one. Yeah.

today, which is, is the number important? Because it can sound a little bit awkward, a little bit strange if you're using one when you don't need to. 100%, 100%. And this is it. So should we go through a role play, Michelle, and show our listeners how it's done? Let's do it. All right. So here we are friends in a coffee shop. Lovely. All right, here we go. So do you want me to grab you something? Sure. I'll have a latte. Okay. Do you want one sugar or two?

I'll just have one sugar. Okay. Oh, there's a line. Oh, I only see one person. Oh no. Look over there. There's a long line. Ooh, ouch. Ouch. I think we've done an episode before Michelle about ouch. Haven't we? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay, great. So let's break this down and see where we used a or an and where we used one or more than one. Right. Okay. So first you said, sure, I'll have a latte. And why didn't you say I'll have one latte?

because it would be a little overkill don't you think I was like I'll have one latte you're not really giving a list here it's not yeah it's kind of assumed that you're just getting one drink for yourself yeah and you're not you're not like behind the bar taking orders taking a list for the office right one latte one cappuccino one decaf espresso right no um

you're just saying to your friend, I'll have a latte. Right? So in that case, you cannot say one. It doesn't make any sense. - No. - Yes. - Okay. - And then you said, okay, do you want one sugar or two? So why didn't you say, do you want a sugar or two?

Oh, that would be strange if I said, do you want a sugar or two? Because now we're counting. Now the number does matter. So I have to say the number, right? Do you want one sugar or two or three? Right. Not a sugar. We don't say, do you want a sugar? Do you want sugar? We would drop the age in that case. Yes, exactly. So, uh, and then I said, I'll just have one sugar and I'm just mirroring what you said. Right. And I mean,

Yeah, if I just said I'll just have oh wait just to make it clear we mean maybe like a packet of sugar Yeah, I like to make it. Yes Okay That's important is because sometimes you get the big thing like if you go to a diner you get the big glass thing that you pour in Right in that case. We're not really counting you would just say do what can I have some sugar or is that sugar? But when you're getting little packets that you as my friend are gonna bring over to the table, it's about counting. Yeah

Yeah. Love that. Exactly. And then I just realized I didn't bold one. So what's the next one, Lindsay? You said, okay, oh, there's, there's a line, right? Not one line. There's a line, right? Oh, there's a line. And here it's clear, right? We're not counting lines. Okay. There's a line. It's there. And then you say, oh no, I only see one person.

Right. So here the number is important because I wouldn't say, oh, I only see a person. It's not specific enough. I'm looking over here. I see I only see one person because you're saying, oh, there's a line. I said, I only see one person. What are you talking about? Exactly. And then you said, don't look over there. There's a long line. Right. Or I said that there's a long line. Yeah.

Interesting. This is a great example of where we're going back and forth the entire time between the number mattering and the number not mattering. It's the thing that you're talking about.

Michelle, what's your drink of choice these days? What's your coffee drink of choice? What do you typically order? What are you drinking these days? I typically order a regular coffee with a little bit of half and half. And then if I'm somewhere that maybe has sugar-free something, I'll have a sugar-free vanilla or something like that. Nice. Sounds good. But then if I'm out, I like to have a little bit of cinnamon on it too. Oh, fancy. Yeah.

Yeah. But sometimes I don't get the syrup in it. It depends on my mood. Yeah, totally. Oh, you're just black coffee. Well, actually, so I switched over to decaf now. So I drink decaf at home. Yeah. Because I just realized- Who are you? Who am I? I know it's crazy. And then when I go out, I sometimes will have like a decaf espresso.

Or I'll have a regular coffee, but then I'll be wired. So it's not good. And then on the weekends, I like a good cappuccino, a little cappuccino. So yay. We all have our drinks of choice, which by the way, is a great conversation starter for our listeners. Oh, for sure. There you go. Where else should we go to find a great episode, a great recent episode? Oh.

Okay. So speaking of numbers, go to episode 2343, how to say that two people don't mix well in English. All right. And what's our takeaway for today, Michelle? Where should we leave our listeners? I think the takeaway is think about it. Is the number important? Is the number not important? That's it. That's really the biggest thing to take away from today. Generally go with A or an unless the number is important.

So don't you love it when an episode comes down to one, one sentence, one key point, does the number matter or not? That's the answer. And of course, the most important thing is the connection as we know, but sometimes we can confuse people like you would have confused me, Michelle, the top of the show with the dog question. I thought you were asking a completely different question, right?

So to have that connection moment, we need to make sure people know what we're asking them, what we're saying. Exactly. Exactly. Oh, well, I'm glad that you brought this topic to us today, Lindsay. This was a fun one and also very important. So I think that our listeners are going to get a lot of use out of this episode. All right. Sounds great, Michelle. I'll see you next time. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye. Bye.

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