Question

Fill in the blank with the correct option:
I have been waiting for you for _____ hour.
a. a
b. an
c. the
d. a few

Answer 1

Hint: Read the sentence and decipher what it wants to convey, now go through the options and use the ‘hit and trial’ method to see which one of them fits the context of the sentence. To choose the correct article, pronounce the word after it. check if it is a vowel sound.

Complete answer: Indefinite articles are only used for an object/person
when one doesn’t know which noun one is referring to out of multiple nouns. It is used for
conveying the random nature of an object through a sentence. ‘The’ is used as a definite article for a thing/person when the reader knows exactly which noun one is referring to. It refers to the specific nature of the subject.
In the given sentence, the word ‘hour’ is used as a common noun. Therefore, it is used in a general sense. The pronunciation of this word can be written as ‘ow-er’. This means that the first syllable of the word is pronounced as a vowel. So, this means we need a specific indefinite article.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:
a. a - The article ‘a’ is an indefinite article. It is used more in a general sense, however, it cannot be used before a vowel. This won’t fit into the given sentence. 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. 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, the word ‘hour’ is a common noun. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. a few - This is not an article, and it would be grammatically incorrect to use this in the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: 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.