Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:
There is _ _ _ _ _ _ excellent film on television this evening.
a) A
b) An
c) The
d) No article

Answer 1

Hint: An article is a word used prior to a noun or noun phrases to define it as specific or non-specific. Broadly classified into definite and indefinite, there are three articles a, an, the.

Complete answer:
The given sentence talks about an excellent film that will be shown on TV in the evening. The film has not been mentioned and therefore we cannot call it a specific one. So, an indefinite article would be used here. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are both indefinite articles.
Option a ‘a’ is an indefinite article and so is option b ‘an’. Since, the adjective following the article, i.e. ‘excellent’ begins with a vowel ‘e’ therefore, their article used would be ‘an’ and not ‘a’. Thus, option b ‘an’ is the correct answer.
Option a ‘a’ as mentioned above is invalid in this context as the word next begins with a vowel. Therefore, option a ‘a’ is incorrect.
Option c ‘the’ is an article used to define a specific noun. For example, “The Taj is a beautiful monument.” There is no such specific film mentioned in the given sentence. Thus, option ‘c’ is invalid.
Option d ‘no article’ is invalid as we have already found the correct article required. Therefore, option ‘d’ is incorrect.

Note:Do not get confused between ‘a’ and ‘an. Both are indefinite articles but here the deciding factor would be the vowel word next to the blank.