Article the

Hello,
I have the following sentence:

This would result in uneven growth of the chains depending on the specific collapse configuration.

My boss feels like the word the before chains should be removed. They both sound OK. Any opinions suggestions on what is the proper way to write it?

 

I would put an additional "of the" in front of "configuration".

 

That would be wrong Manic. The "collapse configuration" is what we are talking about at the end. We are not talking about "collapsing the configuration"

It might be however that I should add a d like so:

... on the specific collapsed configuration.

Is that what you are referring to?

 

It's quite hard to give an answer to this without looking at the context of the sentence.

"the chains" would make more sense if you had referred to these chains in previous sentences. You're talking about specific chains.

"chains" would make more sense if you haven't. You're talking about chains in general.

 

Thanks stubeard, that makes sense. And it seems from what you say that the isolated sentence might be correct with or without the "the"

 

Yes, as stubeard said, your answer cannot be answered for this sentence in isolation. It makes sense to refer to the chains, with the definite aticle, if these chains were referred to previously.

I'm assuming this has to do with some sort of polymerization or condensation reaction, perhaps growing from a defect site?

 

Hey Cogito, controlled radical polymerization from precursor assemblies of surface-bound initiators.

 

I think either with or without the 'the' would be correct. Article use is mandatory in some languages, but English is not one of them. If the bossman thinks it sounds better without the article, then it sounds better without the article.

 

Thanks erik. It seems that this is a battle that I might want to concede.

 

either is grammatically correct, but context and prior reference should determine which to use...