Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable article from the options given.
The thirsty crow thought of ___________ plan.

a.An
b.A
c.The
d.No article

Answer 1

Hint: Indefinite articles are usually used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known.

Complete answer:
Indefinite articles are used for a thing or person when the reader doesn't know which one we are referring to out of many nouns. It is used for denoting the random nature of an object.
'The' is used as a definite article for a thing or person when the reader knows which one we are exactly referring to. It states the specific nature of the subject.
In the given sentence, we do not know the specific plan that the crow thought of. So, we must use indefinite articles for this sentence.

Now, let’s look at our available options:
> An - The word ‘an’ is an indefinite article. However, it is only used when the noun starts with a vowel. The noun ‘plan’ does not start with a vowel. So, this is an incorrect option.
> A - The word ‘a’ is an indefinite article and is used when the noun starts with a consonant. The noun ‘plan’ starts with a consonant. So, this is the correct option.
> The - The word ‘the’ is a definite article. A definite article cannot be used with the given sentence. So, this is an incorrect option.
> No article - This option is incorrect as an article is always needed before a common noun. So, this option is also incorrect.

So the correct answer is option B

Note: Choose the option which is used in a general sense. That will be the correct answer for the given sentence.