Choose the most appropriate article to fill in the blank:
My uncle, who lived in Geneva for ten years, says that ______ Swiss are very punctual people.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → the
Complete sentence: My uncle, who lived in Geneva for ten years, says that the Swiss are very punctual people. Here “the Swiss” means the people of Switzerland, and the plural “are” shows this.
| Option | When to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) a | “A” means one person or thing and needs a singular noun after it; here “are” shows a whole group | A Swiss tourist asked us the way to the fort. |
| (2) No article | “Swiss” alone is only a describing word; it cannot stand for a whole people without “the” | My uncle’s new watch is Swiss. |
| (3) the (answer) | before a nationality word ending in -ss, -sh, -ch or -ese (Swiss, French, Japanese), to mean all the people of that country; these words do not take -s in the plural | The Dutch grow a lot of tulips. |
| (4) an | “An” means one and goes before a vowel sound; “Swiss” begins with a consonant sound | We met an Irish family on the train. |