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6.16 Definite and indefi nite articles

The usage of articles is very complex in English – for full details see Chapters
1–5 in English for Research: Grammar, Usage and Style .

In brief, here are the differences in meaning.

S1. A researcher spends many days in the lab.
S2. One researcher spends many days in the lab.
S3. Researchers spend many days in the lab.
S4. The researcher spends many days in the lab.
S5. The researchers spend many days in the lab.

S1 – a generic researcher, who we have not mentioned before.

S2 – we have already mentioned a group of researchers, now we are focusing on one
individual who spends many days in the lab, unlike the others in her group who are
rarely in the lab.

S3 – researchers in general, i.e. ‘all researchers’, so the non use of the is correct.

S4 – the researcher has already been mentioned before so that the reader knows
which researcher we are talking about.

S5 – same as S4, though this time we are talking about more than one researcher.

If S4 or S5 appeared at the beginning of a new section in a paper, the reader might
be confused and would be forced to look back to earlier sections to see if he / she

could find a previous reference to the researcher/s. In fact, if you use the with a
countable noun it implies that you have already mentioned this noun before.
Here is an example of the a versus one rule:

S6. We made one experiment before the equipment exploded.
S7. We made an experiment before the equipment exploded.

In S6 we imply that we had planned a series of experiments (at least two), but that
these were interrupted by the explosion. In S7 no such series is implied. The two
sentences thus have very different meanings.

So where is the possible ambiguity?