Question

Complete the given sentence with the best option from those given below.
There’s ___________ giant tortoise in the Galapagos Islands nicknamed Lonesome.
a. The
b. A
c. An
d. None

Answer 1

Hint: Since we are talking about one giant tortoise which is a singular noun we are going to use an article. An article is used to indicate whether a noun in a sentence is specific or general.

Complete answer:
In the above sentence we are talking about some giant tortoise who is living in the Galapagos Islands. It is a singular noun, and the person (reader) who is being told about the tortoise is not familiar with such tortoise because it has not been mentioned earlier.
So, the rule for using articles – we use ‘a’ & ‘an’ with a singular countable noun it is also known as indefinite article and ‘the’ is used if the noun is familiar to the reader it is also known as definite article.
Option a – ‘the’ is used with singular & plural nouns both. But the usage of ‘the’ denotes that the noun is already mentioned and the reader knows about it.
Option b – ‘a’ is used with singular nouns and in front of words that start with a consonant sound, like that of – b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.
Option c – ‘an’ is used with singular nouns and in front of words starting with a vowel sound, like – a, e, I, o, u.
Option d – none, implies none of the options are correct.
As you can see, from the above given explanations option –b is the correct one as the statement given is a singular noun and the word after the blank starts with a consonant sound.

Note: Keep yourself familiar with the rules and regulations of using an article. That way you will be able to chalk out the correct solution.