Choose the correct option to fill in the blank:
My house is made of ______ stone.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Zero article
Complete sentence: My house is made of stone. "Stone" here names the material of the house, so no article is used: "My house is made of stone."
| Option | When to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) A | "A stone" is a single piece of rock. A house is not made of one stone. | – |
| (2) An | "An" goes before a vowel sound, and "stone" begins with a consonant sound. The material needs no article in any case. | – |
| (3) The | "The" would point to a particular stone already known to the listener. Nothing in the sentence does that. | – |
| (4) Zero article (answer) | Names of materials and substances - stone, wood, gold, glass, cotton - are uncountable when they mean the material in general. Such nouns take no article ("zero article") in a general sense. "The" is used only for a particular, already known quantity ("the stone from this quarry"). | The old temple is built of marble. |