Expression: 'Find words in the passage...

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me which one of the following sentences is correct?

1- Find words in the above passage which have the same meaning as the following words.

2- Find the words in the above passage which have the same meaning as the following words.

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

You could use either one, but the second one clearly suggests that the speaker (writer) already knows specifically which words will/should be found.

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

It's back to our old friend 'definiteness' as shown in the second sentence.

A
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Communicating with you?

[Conchita]

Just to add to your comments, 'find the words' means all of them, as opposed to the vaguer directions 'find words'.