Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blanks. She enjoyed watching…
2025
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blanks.
She enjoyed watching _____ old documentary based on _____ historical fact.
- A.
the, an
- B.
No article, a
- C.
No article, No article
- D.
an, a
Attempted by 17 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: The choice between 'a', 'an', and no article depends on the SOUND that immediately follows, not the spelling. 'An' precedes a word that starts with a vowel sound; 'a' precedes a word that starts with a consonant sound — including an audibly pronounced 'h'. No article is used before a general plural or uncountable noun, not before a singular countable noun on its first mention.
Applying it here:
Identify the noun after each blank: 'documentary' (preceded by 'old') and 'historical fact' (preceded by 'historical').
'Old' begins with the vowel sound, so the article before it must be 'an' — 'an old documentary'.
'Historical' begins with an audibly pronounced consonant sound (unlike silent-h words such as 'hour' or 'honest'), so the article before it must be 'a' — 'a historical fact'.
Both nouns are singular, countable, and appear for the first time in the sentence, so a definite article ('the') or no article at all would be inappropriate for either blank.
Why the other pairs fail:
'the, an' incorrectly uses a definite article for a documentary that has not been mentioned before, and treats 'historical' as a silent-h word.
'No article, a' incorrectly drops the article before 'documentary', a singular countable noun that must take one.
'No article, No article' incorrectly drops the article before both nouns.
Result: 'an, a' is the correct pair of articles for the two blanks.