Old habits won't die easy- I have to take issue with Grant's topic name, "After a long run, we will close this discussion forum."
A long run? Which one? Are there some other ones more obviously at issue than this very one? That's what A means, right? -one among many.
Grant and Martha, you're one pair of linguist aces- tremendous works you've been doing to educate and entertain us public. I Iook forward to listening to your new shows. I'll go to your Facebook site now.
Funny how you say or hear something in passing, and not long after, run into materials that appear to be direct talkback to you.
Here's a case of philosopher caught by fellow philosopher switching articles : Noam Chomsky discussed how intellectuals used to blame the Soviets for being the one-sided cause of the Cold War; then later, under pressures from more liberal waves of thinking, modified that view.
As example, Chomsky cited John Galbraith switching , between 1967 and 1971, the article The to A, in this passage by Galbraith:
the revolutionary and national aspirations of the Soviets ... were the / an undoubted historical source [of the cold war]
The change to An apparently was made to accommodate the new thinking that includes more complex causes of the Cold War, including belligerency by the US.
It may seem whatever retentive. But it is a good thing that these guys were that meticulous and that sharp-eyed. The reading public should want no less of the current crops of thinkers. Though that could be too much to ask.