In the following sentence, four words or phrases have been underlined. One of…
2017
In the following sentence, four words or phrases have been underlined. One of them is incorrect. Select the INCORRECT word or phrase from the given options. He must have been the very strong man to fight a tiger.
- A.
the
- B.
very strong
- C.
must
- D.
to fight
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: English uses the indefinite article "a/an" before a singular countable noun when it names a person or thing in a general, non-specific, or first-mentioned sense (one of a class). The definite article "the" is used only when the noun refers to something specific, unique, or already known to both speaker and listener.
Application: The sentence describes the kind of man someone would need to be in order to fight a tiger — a person of a general type, not one particular, previously identified man. So the noun phrase "very strong man" calls for the indefinite article. The correct form is "a very strong man", which makes "the" the incorrect word here.
Why the other underlined parts are correct:
"must" — the modal correctly expresses a strong logical deduction ("must have been" = it is almost certain he was).
"very strong" — "very" properly intensifies the adjective "strong", a normal and grammatical pairing.
"to fight" — the infinitive of purpose ("to fight a tiger") correctly explains the reason the strength was needed.
Cross-check: Replacing the article gives "He must have been a very strong man to fight a tiger." — fluent and correct. Keeping "the" wrongly implies one specific, already-known man, which the sentence never establishes.