Question

Fill in the blank with the correct or no article:
Harry Brown is a great orator and ________ politician.
A. a
B. an
C. the
D. No Article

Answer 1

Hint:Articles define the nouns as nonspecific or specific. Nouns are further classified into definite and indefinite articles. Articles are the words ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’. Articles behave like an adjective; it modifies the noun by describing it as specific or non-specific.

Complete answer:
Articles are the words that define if something is specific or unspecific. Articles are classified into two types: definite and indefinite articles.

A definite article is an article that associates a noun to one particular thing. ‘The’ is the definite article which defines its noun as something specific. For example, a definite article is used with something unique, something which was mentioned previously or is known, or something which is identified by the speaker.
For instance, in the sentence ‘please give me the book’
The speaker here refers to the specific book hence with the noun ‘book’ we use a definite article.

Indefinite articles are used in two forms i.e., ‘a’ and ‘an’. We use the indefinite article to refer to a general idea. Indefinite article ‘a’ is used with words that begin with consonants and ‘an’ is used with the words that begin with vowels.

In the above-given sentence, ‘Harry Brown is a great orator and ________ politician.’ the most appropriate word will be option A. a.
In the given sentence we do not talk about specific quality but more than one quality. Had we used definite articles it would have referred to any one quality.

Other options are incorrect as:
Option B. An is also an indefinite article, also ‘an’ as an indefinite article is used with a word that begins with a vowel or a sound of the vowel.
Option C. The as a definite article is used to refer to something specific or unique.
Option D. No article is incorrect as we have used option A.

Additional information:
We use indefinite article ‘an’ not just with a word that begins with a vowel but also with the word whose initial sound of the letter is a vowel. For example- an honorable woman, an FBI agent.
In both, the phrase the words ‘ honorable’ and ‘FBI’ has the initial sound of vowels ‘o’ and ‘a’ respectively.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’

Note: We do not use the indefinite articles with the plural or uncountable nouns. A/an article follows the sound of the letter and not just the written letter. Hence, before using the indefinite article we must know the pronunciation of words and note if the initial letter makes the sound of vowels (a,e,i,o,u).