Question

Today ___ weather is very hot.
(Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.)
a. a
b. an
c. the
d. no article

Answer 1

Hint: Read the sentence and decipher what it wants to convey, now go through the options and use the elimination method to see which one of them fits the context of the sentence. To choose the correct article, pronounce the word after it to check if it is a vowel sound.

Complete answer: Indefinite articles are only used for an object/person when one doesn’t know which noun one is referring to out of multiple nouns. It is used for conveying the random nature of an object through a sentence.

‘The’ is used as a definite article for a thing/person when the reader knows exactly which
noun one is referring to. It refers to the specific nature of the subject.

The given sentence contains the noun ‘weather’ and it also contains the adverb ‘today’. So, we can safely assume that the sentence is referring to today’s weather specifically. This makes the given noun specific. So, we need a definite article.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:

a. a - The article ‘a’ is an indefinite article. It is used more in a general sense. This won’t fit into the given sentence, as it is not a definite article. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. an - The article ‘an’ is an indefinite article. It is used more in a general sense, only before words beginning with a vowel sound. This won’t fit into the given sentence, as it is not a definite article. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c. the - The article ‘the’ is a definite article. It is used when the identity is certain. This fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
d. no article - We already know that this is an incorrect option as we have found the
correct option from the above-given choices. So, this is not the required answer.
Therefore, option c is correct.

Note: Indefinite articles are usually used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known and definite articles are used for specific things/objects, however not before a proper noun.