Articles and Determiners Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The article is The: 'The old are respected by the young.'

The is placed before certain adjectives to make them stand for a whole class of people: the old (old people), the young, the poor, the rich. Such phrases are plural, which is why the verb is are. The same sentence already uses this pattern in 'by the young'.

A and an are used with singular countable nouns and cannot turn an adjective into a plural class. With no article, 'Old are respected' is ungrammatical.

Answer: A

The correct article is The: The pen is mightier than the sword.

Here pen does not mean one particular pen but the whole class of things it stands for, writing and ideas, contrasted with the sword, force. A singular noun used to represent its whole class takes the definite article the, as in the horse is a noble animal. The proverb is from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play Richelieu (1839).

A would mean any single pen, an is used only before a vowel sound, and leaving out the article is ungrammatical with a singular countable noun.

Answer: A

No article is needed, marked X: 'Man is the only animal that uses fire.'

When man is used in the general sense of the human race or mankind, it takes no article, just as one says 'Man is mortal'. The sentence makes a statement about humanity as a whole, not about one particular man.

'A man' or 'an man' would refer to a single, unspecified man, and 'an' is impossible before the consonant sound of man. 'The man' would point to a particular man already known. None of these gives the general sense the sentence needs.

Answer: D

The suitable article is a: 'Aluminium is a useful metal.'

The choice between a and an depends on the first sound of the next word, not its first letter. 'Useful' begins with the consonant sound /y/ (yoo-sful), so it takes 'a', just as in 'a university' or 'a uniform'.

'An' would be used before a vowel sound. 'The' would point to one particular metal already known, which does not fit a general statement. 'Very' is not an article, and 'Aluminium is very useful metal' is ungrammatical.

Answer: B

The correct article is a: the film had a bad review.

Review is a singular countable noun mentioned for the first time, so it needs the indefinite article. Since 'bad' begins with a consonant sound, the form is a.

'The bad review' would point to a review already known to the reader. 'An' is used before vowel sounds. Leaving out the article is wrong because a singular countable noun cannot stand alone here.

Answer: B

The correct article is a: She has a French name.

'Name' is a singular countable noun mentioned for the first time and not identified further, so the indefinite article is used. 'French' begins with a consonant sound, so the form is a.

'The French name' would refer to a particular name already known, 'an' is used before vowel sounds, and the countable noun 'name' cannot stand without an article.