Question

Identify which article best fills in the blank.
John has got ___ interview tomorrow. (It can be any interview)
A) A
B) An
C) The
D) No article

Answer 1

Hint: Articles are a subcategory of words under a larger category called ‘determiners’.
A, an and the are the articles that are used in the English language. ‘A’ and ‘An’ are articles that are used before singular nouns, whereas ‘the’ can be used before singular, plural and even uncountable nouns.

Complete answer:
Articles are of two types; definite and indefinite articles.
Definite articles include ‘the’. It determines that we are talking about a specific or unique noun.
Indefinite articles include ‘a’ and ‘an’. It determines that the noun that we are talking about is common or random.

Let us look into the given options:
Option (A) A – is an indefinite article. It is the article which is used to refer to any random thing. For e.g. A dog, a book, etc. These examples refer to a random dog and a random book. The question says that it can be any random interview. Thus ‘a’ is suitable. But it is not correct because ‘a’ is used before nouns that begin with a consonant. The word ‘interview begins with a vowel ‘I’. Thus, this option is incorrect.
Option (B) An – is also an indefinite article. ‘An’ is also used for random nouns and is suitable. Thus, this is the correct option because it is used before nouns that begin with vowels, and the interview begins with the vowel ‘I’.
Option (C) The – is a definite article and is used only when the noun is unique or specific. Thus, it is the wrong option.
Option (D) No article – This is incorrect because an article should be used before the given noun to determine what kind of noun it is (is it a specific or a random noun).

Thus, the correct answer is Option (B) An

Note:
- Articles come under a broader category of words called ‘determiners’.
- Determiners are words that give reference to a noun with respect to the context in which it is used.
- Some determiners are; this, that, my, their, many, both, all, each, any etc.