Question

It’s very difficult to find ______ work at the moment. (Fill the blank with an appropriate article where necessary.)
A) a
B) an
C) the
D) no article

Answer 1

Hint: Articles are words that define a specific or non-specified noun.
For example, "he had a pen." Here, by using the article "a" we have mentioned the noun "pen."

Complete answer:
In English, there are usually two forms of articles: definite and indefinite. The definite article is "The." A definite article is used to specify a particular noun. For example, "The doctor that lives near my house is like our family doctor".

Indefinite articles define a general noun, not a particular noun. The indefinite article has two forms, i.e. "a" and "an." The article "a" is used whenever the word is preceded by a consonant sound/alphabet and the article "an" is used when the word begins with a vowel sound/alphabet. For example, "She is a doctor ". The indefinite article here suggests that she is a doctor but no specific information is given about it.

Let’s look at the sentence given in the question:
“It’s very difficult to find ______ work at the moment.”
Here, “work” is an abstract noun and no articles are placed before abstract nouns.
Abstract nouns should not be preceded by articles. Abstract nouns are words that allude to traits, conditions, thoughts, activities, sentiments, and emotions. Examples include beauty, poverty, knowledge, wisdom, work, rage, love, and so on.

Option (A) a - Although the word “work” has a consonant sound this is incorrect because “work” is an abstract noun and we cannot put articles before abstract nouns. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Option (B) an - This is incorrect because the word “work” does not start with a vowel sound and “work” is an abstract noun so we cannot put any article before it.

Option (C) the - This is incorrect because definite articles are used for only specific nouns and work is not a specific noun, rather it is an abstract noun before which we do not add articles.

Option (D) No article - This is correct because in general there is no need to put an article before an abstract noun. In the above sentence, ‘work’ is an abstract noun therefore there is no need for an article.

Therefore, the correct option is (D) no article. “It’s very difficult to find work at the moment.”

Note:
The specific article can be used for singular, plural or uncountable nouns. “The” is also used to specify some universal facts or truths. “The Taj Mahal is a beautiful monument.” Notice that indefinite articles are only used for singular nouns.