Question

Complete the sentence with a suitable word from the options.
Quick! Someone called ____ policeman.
A) a
B) an
C) the
D) no article

Answer 1

Hint: Clearly all the words given in the options are articles, so we need to choose the appropriate article that fits into the sentence. The hint here is that there are multiple correct answers for this sentence. So we need to look for two answers that are possibly fitting and only one answer that does not fit, since the other option says none of the above which is not true. The two right answers are there because one gives a generalized meaning to the ‘policeman’ and the other article implies to call a particular policeman.

Complete answer:
Look carefully at each article that could be the potential answer. We know that multiple answers are possible, now we just need to find which option of article does not suit the given sentence. For this there is another hint given as well;

We need an article in front of the noun ‘policeman’ and since one of the statements generalizes the policeman to be called and the other implies specificity to the policeman, so we can use a definite or indefinite article. Now we will see how to figure out which article is right and serves the purpose;
For option (A) a; this is a correct option, here we consider that we are referring to any random policeman so we need an article in front of it and it will be an indefinite article. Since there is no clash of vowels between ‘a’ and ‘policeman’ we can without a doubt put ‘a’ as a right article.
For option (B) an; this is incorrect, since ‘an’ is normally used to eliminate the clash of vowels, here since ‘policeman’ does not begin with a vowel nor a vowel sound, it definitely does not need ‘an’ in front of it.
For option (C) the; this is another correct option, since it is not specified in the question if the policeman is of any specific area or not, so if we consider him as part of a specific area, we can use this definite article before ‘policeman’.
For option (D) none of the above; this option is incorrect, this option can be omitted since there are two options which serve as the right options hence this is an irrelevant option.

The correct options with the appropriate articles that fit the sentence are option (A) a and option (B) the.

Note: Distinguish between when to use definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a,an) in a sentence;
- Definite articles: used when you speak about something in specific or when we refer to something we have mentioned before. We also use it when it has a singular meaning, that is when it is unique. Otherwise we use it with superlatives, with fixed phrases or with things that are obvious. Some examples are: the next, in the world, the other, and so on.

- Indefinite articles: mainly used to specify singular nouns. When you talk about something for the first time we use this, to refer to the professions of people also we generally use indefinite articles. Other fixed phrases to make use of these articles, for example: a few people, a day, and so on.