Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blanks. She loves _____…
2025
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blanks.
She loves _____ nature and often goes for hikes in _____ mountains.
- A.
the, a
- B.
the, No article
- C.
No article, the
- D.
the, the
Attempted by 18 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
Two rules govern the blanks here. First, abstract or uncountable nouns used in their general sense (love, nature, music, honesty) take no article. Second, a small set of geographical features — the sea, the desert, the mountains, the countryside — conventionally take 'the' even when no specific instance is named, because they are treated as well-known types of terrain rather than countable objects.
Application
In this sentence, 'nature' is used in its everyday general sense (the natural world as a concept), so the first rule applies and no article precedes it. 'Mountains' names a familiar type of terrain used for hiking, so the second rule applies and 'the' precedes it. Combining the two rules gives 'No article, the' as the required pair.
Cross-check
Each remaining pairing breaks one of the two rules above.
'the, a' pairs 'the' with an abstract noun used generally, and pairs the plural noun 'mountains' with the singular article 'a', which cannot combine with a plural noun.
'the, No article' pairs 'the' with an abstract noun used generally, and omits any article before 'mountains', dropping the fixed idiomatic 'the' before this class of geographic term.
'the, the' pairs 'the' with an abstract noun used generally, an error inconsistent with the first rule above.
Result
'No article, the' is the only pairing consistent with both rules.