Question

How ___ do you go jogging?’ ‘Oh, about once ___ week.’
a- Much; the
b- Many; a
c- Often; a
d- Often; the

Answer 1

Hint: We use adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, while articles act as determiners that are used to specify a general noun.

Complete answer:
 As given in the hint, we use determiners to indicate verbs and nouns.
Let’s look at the functions of the given options-
Much- It is an adverb that is used to indicate an appreciable or considerable amount. For example- Did the surgery hurt much?
Often- It is an adverb that is used to indicate an action that takes place again and again or regularly. For example- My mother often cooks her special soup.
Many- It is an adjective that is used to describe the quantity of a noun. For example- There are many books on the table.
The- It is a definite article that is used to modify particular nouns or proper nouns. For example- Can you give me the book that I gave you?
A- It is an indefinite article that is used to modify general singular nouns. For example- I have an owl toy at home.
In the given question- We can conclude that X asked Y how often do you go jogging? Y replied, Oh, about once a week. Here, we have used ‘often’ to indicate how many times does X go for jogging. Further, we have used ‘a’ to modify the noun ‘week’, because it is a general noun.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘Much; the’ is an incorrect option because we use ‘much’ to indicate the extent of action.
Option b- ‘Many; a’ is an incorrect option because we use ‘many’ to indicate the quantity of a noun.
Option c- ‘Often; a’ is the correct option because we use ‘often’ to indicate the regularity of action.
Option d- ‘Often; the’ is an incorrect option because ‘week’ is not a specific noun. Hence, we cannot use ‘the’. The correct answer is Option ‘c’.

Note:
Keep in mind, ‘the’ is a definite article that is used to modify particular nouns or plural nouns while ‘an’ is an indefinite article that is used to modify general singular nouns.