Hi David,
One environment where context information would be handy is the variable that will take a numerical value. There is no way to know what the variable will be replaced with. (Singular or plural? Or a number at all?)
Another such context is with names (of modules, assignments, etc.). Both of the above contexts would require a different arrangement and, occasionally, a different term, to be used.
A third environment, similar to English "a/an", is where you'd like to know whether the modified term begins with a consonant or a vowel.
Simply put, information on the variable would raise the quality of translations considerably.
Karoly