Question

Fill in the blank with an appropriate article:
Would you like ____ apple?
(a)a
(b)an
(c)the
(d)no article

Answer 1

Hint: Indefinite articles are usually used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known and definite articles are used for specific things/objects, however not before a proper noun.

Complete answer:Indefinite articles are used for a thing or person when the reader doesn’t know which one we are referring to out of many nouns. It is used for denoting the random nature of an object.‘The’ is used as a definite article for a thing or person when the reader knows which one we are exactly referring to. It states the specific nature of the subject.
In the given sentence, we do not know the specific nature of the kind of apple that is going to be eaten.
So, we must use indefinite articles for this sentence.
Now, let’s look at our available options:
(a)a - The article ‘a’ is an indefinite article. It is used more in a general sense, however, these also cannot be used before a word starting with a vowel. The word following the blank is ‘apple’ which starts with a vowel. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(b)an - The article ‘an’ is an indefinite article. It is used more in a general sense, only before words beginning with a vowel, the word following the blank is ‘apple’ which starts with a vowel. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(c)the - The article ‘the’ is a definite article. It is used when the identity is certain, however, it is never used before a proper noun, with some exceptions. The noun in the given sentence is not used in a specific sense. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)no article - We already know that this is an incorrect option as we have found the correct answer from the above given options.

Note:Choose the option which is used in a general sense. To choose the correct indefinite article, pronounce the word after it. It is a vowel sound, there will be only one correct option. That will be the correct answer for the given sentence.