“That is the man the police was seeking” In the above sentence, what is the…
2018
“That is the man the police was seeking” In the above sentence, what is the status of the two the’s ?
Answer: D. Definite article — Answer: both occurrences of the word the are definite articles. 'The' is a definite article used before a noun to indicate a specific person or thing that the…
- A.
Verb
- B.
Noun
- C.
Conjunction
- D.
Definite article
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Correct answer: D
Answer: both occurrences of the word the are definite articles.
'The' is a definite article used before a noun to indicate a specific person or thing that the speaker and listener can identify.
Contrast with indefinite articles 'a' and 'an', which introduce non‑specific items.
In the sentence, the first 'the' identifies 'man' as a particular man being pointed out.
The second 'the' identifies 'police' as a particular police force or group of officers relevant to the context.
Note: 'police' is a collective noun normally treated as plural in standard English (standard verb form: 'the police were seeking'), but this does not change the article's role.
Therefore, the correct identification of both occurrences is: definite article.