Indefinite article with "or"

Question

Do we need to use an indefinite article before each option while using 'or' (as in the former case)?

"The point or state at which a person or a company breaks even."
"The point or state at which a person or company breaks even."

Or do we use it before the first option (as in the latter case)?

Does this answer your question? How to use article 'the' with conjunction? — Andrew Tobilko, Dec 29 '20 at 12:12

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 29 '20 at 13:13

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You don't have to; and I'd prefer the second one with one "a", unless you want to emphasize both of them, a "person" and a "company", in your sentence.

answered Dec 29 '20 at 13:13

BM of Spadana

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 29 '20 at 14:38

A person or company creates the sense of a category to me, two things which should be treated as equivalents. There is a cat or dog making noise outside implies that you believe it's definitely one of those two things.

A person or a company feels softer I think, with less of a feeling of "the group consists of these things*, more like "here are two possible examples of what I'm talking about". It's a very subtle difference!

Would you like a coffee or tea? (these are your two options, want one of them?)
Would you like a coffee or a tea? (I'm offering these two things, but maybe I have others if you ask!)

Indefinite article with "or"

2 Answers2