[Grammar] an excess of men over women

[Vik-Nik-Sor]

over
Expressing majority:
There was an excess of men over women.
oxforddictionaries

I think both 'an excess of ' and 'the excess of' would be correct here and mean almost the same thing.
'an excess of' implies that the excess could be slight, large, etc.
'the excess of' is because of the "of-phrase".
Am I right?

 

[MikeNewYork]

I most uses, "an" would be the only correct article.

 

[Vik-Nik-Sor]

I most uses, "an" would be the only correct article.

Is that because of the definite article following "there is" ?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Is that because of the definite article following "there is" ?

I don't see that.

 

[Vik-Nik-Sor]

I don't see that.

I mean, 'the excess of smth over smth' is as common as 'an excess of smth over smth', but you're saying the former is incorrect here, and I wonder whether this is because "there is" is not usually followed by "the".:?:

 

[MikeNewYork]

I mean, 'the excess of smth over smth' is as common as 'an excess of smth over smth', but you're saying the former is incorrect here, and I wonder whether this is because "there is" is not usually followed by "the".:?:

Context means everything. The phrase "an excess of women" refers to one occurrence/situation. "The excess of women" refers to a specific occurrence/situation.

 

[Vik-Nik-Sor]

You said "The excess of women" refers to a specific occurrence/situation.", but look at the following quote -- isn't it talking about "a specific occurrence/situation"?

Also, as was the case in the white
population, the sex ratio among Barbadian blacks was the norm.
That is, there was an excess of women over men in both racial
groups, a pattern which emerged in the last decades of the
seventeenth century, making Barbados quite unlike other
Caribbean islands, where there was an excess of men over women
in both racial groups.

 

[MikeNewYork]

You said "The excess of women" refers to a specific occurrence/situation.", but look at the following quote -- isn't it talking about "a specific occurrence/situation"?

No. The specific I was referring to is something like: In this study, the excess of women over men was 70% to 30%.