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Tue 1 Mar, 2011 10:47 pm
I think "the entire economy" is correct, not "an entire economy".
What do you think?
Context:
The debate indicates that there must be deeper study of what energy
efficiency could do if systematically deployed across an entire economy.
The world cannot solve all of its energy and climate woes with energy
efficiency alone; low-carbon energy technologies must be developed
as well. But there seems to be no fundamental physical or economic
reason that countries can't decrease their overall energy consumption
while maintaining growth, and thus put the ghost of Jevons to rest. !
an is better in this context.
"the" entire economy would refer to the economy that the reader is most familiar with, ie his own, or to the economy of the country where the study or paper was written. The tends to be very specific where I believe the author menat the paper to generally refer to ANY economy
"An" economy refers generally to any economy. It is saying a deeper study of any economy is needed.
@dadpad,
I agree with dadpad. When intending to indicate that one is speaking generally, "an economy" is shorter and less awkward than e.g. "the economy of a country".
@oristarA,
Now you see why 'a' and 'an are called indefinite articles, and 'the' is called the definite article.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/
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