Select the most appropriate articles to fill in the blanks. If no article is…
2025
Select the most appropriate articles to fill in the blanks. If no article is required, choose ‘No article required’.
I have dedicated my life to ______ service of ______ humanity.
- A.
the; a
- B.
a; the
- C.
No article required; the
- D.
the; No article required
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
Articles signal whether a noun phrase is specific, nonspecific, or general. The definite article ‘the’ can mark a noun as specific within its context.
Use ‘a/an’ only with a singular countable noun. A zero article is normally used with an uncountable or abstract noun when it refers generally to an idea or to people collectively.
Application
In ‘service of humanity’, the following of-phrase identifies the service being dedicated to, so ‘the service’ is the idiomatic definite noun phrase.
Here ‘humanity’ means people in general. In this general collective sense it takes the zero article, not ‘a/an’ or ‘the’.
Contrast and cross-check
‘the; a’ makes ‘service’ definite but treats ‘humanity’ as one singular countable instance, which does not express its collective meaning here.
‘a; the’ presents ‘service’ as one unspecified instance and makes ‘humanity’ definite, although the context does not identify a special instance or kind of humanity.
‘No article required; the’ treats ‘service’ generally and makes ‘humanity’ definite, reversing the specific–general pattern required by the sentence.
‘the; No article required’ makes ‘service of humanity’ the specific activity and uses ‘humanity’ for people collectively.
Result
The completed sentence is: ‘I have dedicated my life to the service of humanity.’ Therefore, the required pair is ‘the; No article required’.