In English (and this entire discussion applies pretty much to Dutch as well), there are many alternatives for expressing that a rule applies to all cases. Among these alternatives, it is convenient to choose a simple indefinite article (a or an - click here for the difference).
“A client ...” means: “Each time a client comes along who spends …”:
| Prefer: | Rather than: |
|---|---|
| A client who spends over € 50,000 in a given year must be assigned a Personal Coach. | Every client who spends ... |
| All clients who spend ... | |
| Clients who spend ... | |
| Each client who spends ... | |
| Any client who spends ... |
Why?
The alternatives really mean exactly the same thing. But if you stick with a(n)…,
- Your readers do not need to switch between all these alternatives and worry if perhaps the differences mean something.
- A rulebase with many rules is easier to scan through if you go for uniformity.
- As a writer, you do not need to make a choice between alternatives that mean the same thing anyway.
If you have 2 times a, usually one of these must be replaced by the:
| Write: | Avoid: |
|---|---|
| The destination port of a flight booking must be specified. | A destination port of a flight booking must be specified. |
If there are no conditions at all, a sounds strange. Prefer each in these cases:
| Good: | Less good: |
|---|---|
| Each Gold Card customer must be assigned a personal coach. | A Gold Card customer must be assigned a personal coach. |
With a(n) …, you write in the singular. As a result, you are often confronted with he or she:
| Prefer: | Rather than: |
|---|---|
| An incoming passenger must pass ID control before she is allowed to pass customs. | Incoming passengers must pass ID control before they are allowed to pass customs. |
One simple gender-neutral strategy is to switch regularly between he and she, just randomly choosing one or the other. You can also write he or she but this makes a rule harder to read.
… is the fact that … is a set phrase that always contains the, not a:
| Write: | Avoid: |
|---|---|
| A flight booking is the fact that a client books a flight. | A flight booking is a fact that a client books a flight. |
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