Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
It took us ______ hour and ______ half to do shopping and we got ______ home at 4.
A. An/a/no article
B. The/an/the
C. On/the/the
D. An/the/a
E. A/the/the

Answer 1

Hint:The correct option consists of indefinite articles. Indefinite articles are used with singular nouns.Indefinite articles are used when we are referring to an unspecified thing or quantity.
 Like other articles, indefinite articles are invariable. You use one or the other, depending on the first letter of the word following the article, for pronunciation reasons.
Choose the option accordingly.

Complete answer:
Option A is the correct answer. “An/A” both represent indefinite articles. If a word begins with a vowel sound, then the correct article is an; otherwise, if it begins with a consonantal sound, the correct article is a. If a word begins with a vowel sound, then the correct article is an; otherwise, if it begins with a consonantal sound, the correct article is a. Since hour is typically pronounced with a silent h, an hour is correct.The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns;Also ‘A’ is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns, that’s why ‘A’ fits well in the second part of the sentence. No article is required in the third part of the sentence to keep it grammatically correct. Hence, Option A is right.
Option B is incorrect. ‘The’ is not the correct article to be used with hour because ‘hour’ begins with a vowel sound. Therefore, the given set of Option B is wrong.
Option C is also the wrong answer. "On" is used to indicate position, usually indicating that something is on top of something else. If we use Option C in the sentence, it will spoil the grammatical meaning of the sentence. Hence, Option C is incorrect.
Option D is wrong, as Option A has already been chosen as the right answer. Also, Option D suggests to use ‘The’ in the second part of the sentence. ‘The’ is used to refer to specific or particular nouns. This, using ‘The’ in the second part of the sentence will absolutely make no sense. Hence , Option D is wrong.
Option E is incorrect. Option E consists of “A/the/the” . Using “A” with hour makes no sense because hour begins with a vowel sound so “a” cannot fit right in the first part of the sentence. Thus, Option E is wrong.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note::Articles are used before nouns or noun equivalents and are a type of adjective. The definite article (the) is used before a noun to indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the reader. The indefinite article (a, an) is used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known.
English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the definite article and a/an the indefinite article. For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book.