Articles MCQ — 10 Practice Questions with Answers

Explanation

The sentence refers to a particular postman, so 'The postman's little boy' is appropriate. With professions after 'be', the indefinite article is used: 'a dentist' and 'a cardiologist'. When a whole class is meant in a general statement, plural nouns take no article, so 'dentists don't get called out' is correct. The expression 'at night' also normally takes no article. The choices using 'A postman's', 'the dentist', or 'the cardiologist' either make the reference too indefinite or too specific, and 'the night' is not the idiomatic general time expression here.

Explanation

The sentence needs “a windy morning” because it refers to one unspecified morning. It also needs “a boat” because the boat is introduced for the first time. The phrase “go for a sail” uses the indefinite article before sail as a countable outing or trip. “Along the coast” is natural because coast is a specific coastline understood in the context. Choices using no article before boat or sail leave countable singular nouns incomplete. Choices beginning with “the windy morning” make the morning unnecessarily specific without prior reference.

Explanation

The sentence needs "a typical story" because "typical story" is a singular countable noun phrase used generally. Nationality nouns such as "Scotsman", "Irishman" and "Englishman" refer to representative singular characters here, so "the" is idiomatic in this contrast. "Fantastic story" again takes "a" as a singular countable noun phrase. "Pleasure" in "listen with pleasure" is uncountable in this expression, so no article is used. The sets using no article before "typical story", using "a/an" before the nationality nouns, or omitting "a" before "fantastic story" break these article rules.

Explanation

The noun umbrella begins with a vowel sound, so the suitable indefinite article is an: "an umbrella". The sentence asks for any umbrella, not one already known to both speaker and listener, so the is not appropriate. A is used before consonant sounds, so "a umbrella" is grammatically incorrect. No Article would leave the singular countable noun without a determiner, which is not acceptable here. The completed sentence is: "Please get me an umbrella when I go out shopping as the monsoons are approaching."

Explanation

The natural sentence is: "There was a knock on the door. I opened it and found a small dark man in blue overcoat and a woollen cap." A single, unspecified knock takes "a", while the door is contextually specific, so "the" is right. The man is being introduced for the first time, so he takes "a". The woollen cap is also one countable item in the description, so "a" fits. "An" is wrong before consonant sounds such as knock and woollen, and repeated "the" would make new items sound already known.