Articles and Determiners Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The answer is an: She spent an hour waiting for him.

In hour the h is silent, so the word begins with a vowel sound ('our'), and the indefinite article before a vowel sound is an. The same applies to honest and heir.

A is the trap for anyone going by the letter h. The would mean a particular hour already mentioned, and zero article is wrong before a singular countable noun.

Answer: B

The answer is an: We have bought an LCD television set.

An abbreviation read letter by letter takes its article from the sound of the first letter. LCD is said 'el-see-dee', beginning with a vowel sound (e), so it takes an, as in 'an MLA' or 'an FIR'.

A is the trap for anyone going by the letter L. The would point to a set already known, and zero article is wrong before a singular countable noun.

Answer: B

The correct article is the: Lala Lajpat Rai is the Lion of Punjab.

'The Lion of Punjab' (Punjab Kesari) is a title that belongs to one particular person, so it takes the definite article, as do other unique titles: the Father of the Nation, the Iron Man of India.

'A Lion of Punjab' would make him one of many such lions, losing the sense of a unique title. 'As' is not an article at all, and a singular countable noun like 'Lion' cannot stand without an article here.

Answer: A

The correct article is the: look down upon the poor.

'The' with an adjective denotes a whole class of people: the poor (poor people), the rich, the old, the blind. The phrase takes a plural verb and means all people of that kind.

'A poor' and 'an poor' are wrong because 'poor' here is not a single countable noun. Without any article, 'look down upon poor' is ungrammatical.

The same use of 'the' with an adjective to stand for a group is seen in 'the young', 'the unemployed' and 'the injured'.

Answer: B

The correct article is a: a man of principle.

The sentence describes the Principal as one of the class of men who have principles, so the indefinite article is needed, as in 'He is a man of his word'.

'An' is used only before a vowel sound, and 'man' begins with a consonant sound. 'The man of principle' would single him out as the only such man, which the sentence does not mean, and the countable noun 'man' cannot go without an article.

Answer: C

The correct article is an: an M.A.

The choice between 'a' and 'an' depends on the first sound, not the first letter. The letter M is pronounced 'em', which begins with a vowel sound, so we say an M.A., just as we say an MLA or an M.Sc.

'A B.A.' later in the sentence is right because B is pronounced 'bee', a consonant sound. 'The M.A.' would refer to some particular degree already known, and the countable noun needs an article.

Answer: B

The keyed article is the: after leaving the University.

The sentence refers to a particular university that both speakers know, the one the listener attended, so the definite article is used. 'University' begins with a 'yoo' sound, a consonant sound, so 'an' is wrong.

'A university' would mean some university or other, which does not fit 'leaving' a known place. In British usage 'leaving university' without an article is also heard for the general idea of finishing one's studies, but with the capitalised 'University' the paper expects 'the'.

Answer: A

The correct article is the: None but the brave deserves the fair.

The line is a well-known saying from John Dryden's poem Alexander's Feast. 'The brave' uses 'the' with an adjective to mean brave people as a class, just as 'the fair' at the end means fair (beautiful) ladies.

'A brave' and 'an brave' do not express the general class, and the adjective cannot stand alone as a noun without 'the'.

Answer: B

The answer is a; a: 'She's staying at a hotel in a small town in Colorado.'

Neither the hotel nor the town has been mentioned before or is identified for the listener; they are simply one hotel and one small town among many. A singular countable noun introduced for the first time takes the indefinite article a.

The would suggest a particular hotel or town already known to the listener, which nothing in the sentence supports, so the options with the are wrong.

Answer: D

No article is needed: When was paper first made?

Here paper is an uncountable noun meaning the material in general, not a particular sheet. Uncountable nouns used in a general sense take no article, as in glass is made from sand.

'A' or 'an' would make it countable ('a paper' means a newspaper or an essay), and 'the paper' would point to some specific paper already known, which the question does not mean.