Articles & determiners (a/an/the, zero article, quantifiers) MCQ — 15 Practice Questions with Answers

Explanation

The correct phrase is 'an ombudsman' because the choice of a/an depends on sound, not spelling; 'ombudsman' begins with a vowel sound. The second blank needs 'the' because 'university administration' is a definite, identifiable institution in this sentence, not any administration in general. Using 'a university administration' would make it sound like one unspecified administration among many, while 'the university administration' points to the particular body against which complaints are to be handled.

Explanation

English can use 'the' before certain adjectives to denote a whole class of people: 'the elderly', 'the poor', 'the unemployed', 'the disabled'. In such expressions, the adjective functions like a plural group noun, so 'the elderly deserve' is natural. Without 'the', 'elderly deserve priority' is ungrammatical in this meaning; 'elderly people' would be another correct form. The reason states exactly this rule and explains the assertion, so both are true and R correctly explains A.

Explanation

The noun 'scrutiny' is uncountable when it means close examination, so it normally takes zero article in a phrase such as 'after careful scrutiny'. The second blank is governed by countability: 'clauses' is a plural count noun, so it can be modified by 'several'. 'Much' would fit an uncountable noun such as 'material' or 'evidence', not 'clauses'. Option A therefore gives the natural zero-article phrase in the first blank and the correct plural-count quantifier in the second.

Explanation

'Every' and 'each' are close in meaning but not identical in grammar. 'Every' is normally a determiner placed directly before a singular count noun: 'every shortlisted applicant was interviewed'. It does not normally stand alone before 'of'. For that partitive structure, English uses 'each of the shortlisted applicants' or 'each of them'. The assertion correctly identifies 'every of the shortlisted applicants' as non-standard, and the reason gives the rule that explains the error. Hence both are true, and R explains A.

Explanation

When 'neither' selects one out of two alternatives negatively, the full formal expression is often 'neither of the two'. The noun after 'of' is plural because it names the pair being considered, but the subject idea is 'neither', which is normally treated as singular in formal English. Therefore 'contains' is the defensible verb. Option A also uses 'any' correctly in a negative environment. The other options either omit the needed determiner after 'of', use the non-standard sequence 'neither the two', or choose a plural verb where the formal singular is expected.