MCQ
Articles & determiners (a/an/the, zero article, quantifiers) MCQ - Practice Questions with Answers
Solve 16 Articles & determiners (a/an/the, zero article, quantifiers) questions for RAS/RPSC preparation.
Practice questions
Q1Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence. The committee has recommended appointing ___ ombudsman to handle complaints against ___ university administration.
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.
Q2Read the following statements and choose the correct option. Statement 1: 'All the files were checked again' is standard because 'all' may precede the definite article. Statement 2: 'The whole of the report was examined' is standard when the entire document is meant. Statement 3: 'The all files were checked again' is standard because 'the' may freely precede any quantifier.
Determiners have a fairly fixed order. 'All' can come before another determiner: 'all the files', 'all my notes', 'all these objections'. 'Whole' behaves differently; with a singular count noun, 'the whole report' or 'the whole of the report' is standard. But 'the all files' is not an acceptable reversal of 'all the files'. Statement 3 wrongly assumes that 'the' may be placed before any quantifier. Therefore Statements 1 and 2 are correct, while Statement 3 is not.
Q3Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence. After ___ scrutiny, the panel found that ___ clauses in the draft had been lifted from an earlier policy.
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.
Q4Read the Assertion (A) and Reason (R), then choose the correct option. Assertion (A): The sentence 'Every of the shortlisted applicants was interviewed separately' is not standard English. Reason (R): 'Every' normally functions as a determiner before a singular count noun, whereas 'each' can function as a pronoun in the structure 'each of the applicants'.
'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.
Q5Which option correctly uses 'neither' in a formal sentence?
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.
You've seen 5 of 16 sample questions
Unlimited practice on Articles & determiners (a/an/the, zero article, quantifiers) comes with the RAS Test Series + Practice pack or Gate Pass.
More questions
6Read the following statements and choose the correct option. Statement 1: In 'The activist went to court to challenge the order', zero article before 'court' suggests the institution or legal process. Statement 2: In 'The court near the collectorate is being renovated', 'the' points to a specific building. Statement 3: In 'She studied law at university', 'law' must take the definite article because it is a formal discipline.
7Which sentence uses articles incorrectly?
8Which of the following sentences is incorrect in its use of a determiner?
9Match List I with List II and choose the correct option. List I: 1. ___ heir to the estate 2. ___ one-time secretary of the trust 3. ___ honest account of the incident 4. ___ European scholar List II: P. a Q. an R. the S. zero article
10Identify the correctly written sentence.
11Choose the grammatically correct sentence.
12Match List I with List II and choose the correct option. List I: 1. __ heirloom watch 2. __ university seminar 3. __ one-act play 4. __ MRI scan List II: P. a Q. an
13Which sentence uses the quantifier incorrectly?
14Assertion (A): In the sentence 'The sooner the report is released, the easier it will be to organise consultations', both occurrences of 'the' before the comparatives are correct. Reason (R): In this pattern, 'the' functions as a fixed determiner-like marker before each comparative to show a proportional relationship between two changes.
15Read the Assertion (A) and Reason (R), then choose the correct option. Assertion (A): In the sentence 'The elderly deserve priority during the relief operation', the article 'the' is necessary before 'elderly'. Reason (R): Some adjectives can be used with 'the' to refer collectively to a whole class of people, and such expressions usually take plural meaning.