Choose the most appropriate adjective to fill in the blank in the following sentence:-
_____ utensils she had, were taken away by the thief.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The few
Complete sentence: The few utensils she had were taken away by the thief. The clause "she had" makes the utensils a definite group. She had only a small number, and every one of them was taken.
| Option | Meaning and use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Few | hardly any, a negative sense ("Few utensils she had were taken away" would mean almost none were taken, which does not fit a theft of what she had) | Few people came to the meeting because of the rain. |
| (2) A few | some, a small number, a positive sense, but it does not point to a definite group (it cannot mean “all the small number she had”) | I have a few friends in Delhi. |
| (3) The few (answer) | the small number that there was, all of them. It points to a definite group. | The few books he owned were lost in the flood. |
| (4) Some | an unspecified part of a number (it does not show that she had only a few or that all of them were taken) | Some students stayed back after class. |