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Is it incorrect to write “I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars?”
Use of the definite article “the” before “church”What colour eyesQuestion on indefinite article (Part 2)Using “the” or “a” for an item already mentionedThis book is the property ofWhich indefinite article to use if the noun starts with a non-letter character?Why is “any” not classified as an article?Could it be that 'an another' is acceptable usage?Which Sunday do you prefer, if Sunday is OK with you?What/such + [indefinite article] + uncountable noun (without an adjective)
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
I was informed by a new editor that the sentence "I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars" is incorrect. In the words of the editor - ""A" is wrongly inserted; you have already used "this" as a determiner, and there is no need for another one."
Could you please help me understand if this is true?
indefinite-articles
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
add a comment |
I was informed by a new editor that the sentence "I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars" is incorrect. In the words of the editor - ""A" is wrongly inserted; you have already used "this" as a determiner, and there is no need for another one."
Could you please help me understand if this is true?
indefinite-articles
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago
add a comment |
I was informed by a new editor that the sentence "I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars" is incorrect. In the words of the editor - ""A" is wrongly inserted; you have already used "this" as a determiner, and there is no need for another one."
Could you please help me understand if this is true?
indefinite-articles
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
I was informed by a new editor that the sentence "I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars" is incorrect. In the words of the editor - ""A" is wrongly inserted; you have already used "this" as a determiner, and there is no need for another one."
Could you please help me understand if this is true?
indefinite-articles
indefinite-articles
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
AWandPAWandP
183 bronze badges
183 bronze badges
"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago
add a comment |
"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago
"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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Both "I rate this book three out of four stars" and "I rate this book a three out of four stars" sound acceptable to me.
"I rate this book a three" seems grammatical to me (although maybe "I give this book a three" would be a more common verb in that kind of sentence). So I think the use of the indefinite article would remain grammatical when the additional clarifying information "...out of four stars" is added to the end of the sentence. "Three" would function in that context as a noun, I guess.
If there were some reason to consider it incorrect to use "a" here, it would not be because of the presence of this earlier in the sentence. This acts as the determiner for the noun book; the article a, which comes after book, is clearly not meant to be a determiner for book.
Based on a comment by tchrist, my current hypothesis is that speakers who object to your sentence don't find it natural to interpret "a three out of four stars" as "a three (out of four stars)", the way I did in the second paragraph of this post. I think that most people would accept "rate/give it a three out of four", with no following noun. For some reason, adding a noun after the second numeral seems to potentially change the interpretation of the first numeral's grammatical role.
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
add a comment |
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Both "I rate this book three out of four stars" and "I rate this book a three out of four stars" sound acceptable to me.
"I rate this book a three" seems grammatical to me (although maybe "I give this book a three" would be a more common verb in that kind of sentence). So I think the use of the indefinite article would remain grammatical when the additional clarifying information "...out of four stars" is added to the end of the sentence. "Three" would function in that context as a noun, I guess.
If there were some reason to consider it incorrect to use "a" here, it would not be because of the presence of this earlier in the sentence. This acts as the determiner for the noun book; the article a, which comes after book, is clearly not meant to be a determiner for book.
Based on a comment by tchrist, my current hypothesis is that speakers who object to your sentence don't find it natural to interpret "a three out of four stars" as "a three (out of four stars)", the way I did in the second paragraph of this post. I think that most people would accept "rate/give it a three out of four", with no following noun. For some reason, adding a noun after the second numeral seems to potentially change the interpretation of the first numeral's grammatical role.
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Both "I rate this book three out of four stars" and "I rate this book a three out of four stars" sound acceptable to me.
"I rate this book a three" seems grammatical to me (although maybe "I give this book a three" would be a more common verb in that kind of sentence). So I think the use of the indefinite article would remain grammatical when the additional clarifying information "...out of four stars" is added to the end of the sentence. "Three" would function in that context as a noun, I guess.
If there were some reason to consider it incorrect to use "a" here, it would not be because of the presence of this earlier in the sentence. This acts as the determiner for the noun book; the article a, which comes after book, is clearly not meant to be a determiner for book.
Based on a comment by tchrist, my current hypothesis is that speakers who object to your sentence don't find it natural to interpret "a three out of four stars" as "a three (out of four stars)", the way I did in the second paragraph of this post. I think that most people would accept "rate/give it a three out of four", with no following noun. For some reason, adding a noun after the second numeral seems to potentially change the interpretation of the first numeral's grammatical role.
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Both "I rate this book three out of four stars" and "I rate this book a three out of four stars" sound acceptable to me.
"I rate this book a three" seems grammatical to me (although maybe "I give this book a three" would be a more common verb in that kind of sentence). So I think the use of the indefinite article would remain grammatical when the additional clarifying information "...out of four stars" is added to the end of the sentence. "Three" would function in that context as a noun, I guess.
If there were some reason to consider it incorrect to use "a" here, it would not be because of the presence of this earlier in the sentence. This acts as the determiner for the noun book; the article a, which comes after book, is clearly not meant to be a determiner for book.
Based on a comment by tchrist, my current hypothesis is that speakers who object to your sentence don't find it natural to interpret "a three out of four stars" as "a three (out of four stars)", the way I did in the second paragraph of this post. I think that most people would accept "rate/give it a three out of four", with no following noun. For some reason, adding a noun after the second numeral seems to potentially change the interpretation of the first numeral's grammatical role.
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
Both "I rate this book three out of four stars" and "I rate this book a three out of four stars" sound acceptable to me.
"I rate this book a three" seems grammatical to me (although maybe "I give this book a three" would be a more common verb in that kind of sentence). So I think the use of the indefinite article would remain grammatical when the additional clarifying information "...out of four stars" is added to the end of the sentence. "Three" would function in that context as a noun, I guess.
If there were some reason to consider it incorrect to use "a" here, it would not be because of the presence of this earlier in the sentence. This acts as the determiner for the noun book; the article a, which comes after book, is clearly not meant to be a determiner for book.
Based on a comment by tchrist, my current hypothesis is that speakers who object to your sentence don't find it natural to interpret "a three out of four stars" as "a three (out of four stars)", the way I did in the second paragraph of this post. I think that most people would accept "rate/give it a three out of four", with no following noun. For some reason, adding a noun after the second numeral seems to potentially change the interpretation of the first numeral's grammatical role.
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
edited 8 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
55.7k8 gold badges134 silver badges246 bronze badges
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
add a comment |
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
1
1
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
I have trouble parsing "a three stars".
– tchrist♦
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
@tchrist: ...which doesn't occur anywhere in the sentence. I don't think "a three out of four stars" necessarily behaves the same grammatically as *"a three stars out of four stars", which does sound fairly unacceptable to me.
– sumelic
8 hours ago
2
2
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
I mostly agree with this answer. For the past 40 or 50 years, U.S. idiomatic English has employed the notion of "a ten" meaning "a rating of ten [on a scale of one to ten]." Given that widespread usage. Given that usage and its variants (such as "a ten out of ten"), the inclusion of the unit of measure (whether it be stars, dog bones, smiley faces, or dollar signs) is beside the point: what is being offered isn't a number of stars for the recipient to take home and use—it's an incremental position on a limited number line relative to other incremental positions; the unit of measure is trivial.
– Sven Yargs
8 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
It would also make sense if it were I give this book a (three out of four stars) review. The absence of review might be assumed to be present, even though it's missing. That would make it an attributive noun phrase without the final noun actually being stated. Of course, in the actual sentence, it's rate that's used, not give. But it has the same kind of feel about it.
– Jason Bassford
4 hours ago
add a comment |
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"I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars" would be clear. I agree with the editor that there is something wrong with using "a" referring to "rating" without using "rating" explicitly.
– Greg Lee
8 hours ago
I find "a" perfectly acceptable. The argument about this already present is incorrect too. this goes with book. "A" goes with 3.
– Jim
7 hours ago