Choose the correct article to fill in the blank:
Mr Iyer is ________ honest officer, so nobody in the office dares to offer him a bribe.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → an
Complete sentence: Mr Iyer is an honest officer, so nobody in the office dares to offer him a bribe. In “honest”, the h is silent, so the word begins with the vowel sound “o” (on-ist). The first sound, not the first letter, decides between “a” and “an”.
| Option | When to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) a | goes before a consonant sound | He lives in a house near the temple. |
| (2) the | points to a particular person or thing already known. Here the sentence only tells what kind of officer Mr Iyer is | The officer who came yesterday is my uncle. |
| (3) No article | plural or uncountable nouns used in a general sense. “Officer” is a singular noun that can be counted, so it needs an article before it | Officers must carry their ID cards on duty. |
| (4) an (answer) | goes before a vowel sound | It was an honour to meet the Chief Minister. |