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I recently struggled with whether to use a definite or indefinite article in the following sentence:

"Working with a/the super talented director John Smith is always a lot of fun!"

I tried researching appositives to find the answer to my question, but wasn't able to find anything that would correspond.

I asked a few people who are native speakers and they told me that either article may be used.

What are the meaning variations attached to both articles in this sentence?

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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 239 • Replies: 4

[+3] - contrex - 08/05/2016[quote]"Working with the super talented director John Smith is always a lot of fun!"[/quote] You must use the definite article ('the') in this sentence. You are discusing a definite,...

Quote:

"Working with the super talented director John Smith is always a lot of fun!"

You must use the definite article ('the') in this sentence. You are discusing a definite, named, unique person. There is only one "talented director John Smith". Using the indefinite article ('a') is not an option.

Quote:

"Working with a super talented director like John Smith is always a lot of fun!"

You must use the indefinite article ('a') in this sentence. You are discussing an indefinite concept (a talented director like John Smith).

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@contrex,

Thanks for the explanation contrex. I knew it had to be "the" but did not have the particulars to say why.

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I see I did not spell 'discussing' correctly in my first explanation.

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Thank you very much for the explanation! I was leaning towards "the," but I wasn't sure if "a" was an acceptable option as well.

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