Unit 1.2: a, an and the
Tell the AI which thing you mean, a new one or the one you are giving it.
Small words, big difference. "Write letter" and "Check letter" look almost the same. But for an AI, the first one means make something new, and the second one means look at something I already have. That is exactly what a and the tell it.
සිංහලෙන් අපිට the කියලා වචනයක් නෑ. ඒත් අපි ඒ අදහසම කියනවා, වචනේ අගින්: "email එකක්" කියන්නේ an email (කොයි එකක් හරි, අලුත් එකක්). "email එක" කියන්නේ the email (අපි දෙන්නම දන්න එක). ඉතින් ඔයා දැනටමත් මේ වෙනස දන්නවා! English වලදී ඒක වචනේ ඉස්සරහට එනවා විතරයි.
Sinhala already has this idea
| Sinhala | English | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| letter එකක් ලියන්න | Write a letter. | any letter, a new one |
| letter එක check කරන්න | Check the letter. | the letter we both know |
| මේ letter එක check කරන්න | Check this letter. | the letter I am showing you now |
| මගේ CV එක හදන්න | Fix my CV. | the CV that belongs to me |
With an AI, this and my are often clearer than the. The AI has never seen "the letter" until you paste it, so say this letter and paste it under your request.
a, an, this, my, the
- Write a Facebook post for my cake shop.new
- Write an email for a hotel job in Japan.new
- Check this paragraph for grammar:given
- Explain the answer to my A/L physics question.given
- Make the post shorter.known
a or an?
It depends on the sound, not the letter. Use an before a vowel sound: an email, an A/L question, an hour, an MBA. Use a before a consonant sound: a letter, a university, a one-page CV.
Before and after
In your world
Quick check
Tap an answer. Nothing is saved.
Write email to my teacher.
Write university application letter.
Which is clearer to an AI?
(After the AI writes a post) Make post shorter.
Your turn
Your turn
Saved on this device only.
Ask an AI to make something new (use a or an) from something you give it (use this or my).
For example: Write a WhatsApp message for my customers from this price list.
Score it: 0, 1 or 2 for each.
Clarity
AI එකට කරන්න ඕන දේ පැහැදිලිද?
Completeness
අවශ්ය විස්තර ඔක්කොම තියෙනවද?
Structure
කොටස් හරි පිළිවෙළටද?
Internationally clear
ලංකාවෙන් පිට කෙනෙක්ටත් තේරෙනවද?
Total: 0 / 8
Side quest
Send this to an AI, with three sentences of your own:
Next: Unit 1.3: Task first, politeness optional
Finished this one? Tick it off. It is saved on this device only.