Select the most appropriate article to fill in the blank. If no article is…
2025
Select the most appropriate article to fill in the blank. If no article is required, select 'No article required'.
____ ox is a very useful animal.
- A.
The
- B.
No article required
- C.
A
- D.
An
Attempted by 5 students.
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Correct answer: D
Articles are chosen by the sound that begins the next word, not by its first letter. "A" precedes a word that starts with a consonant sound, and "an" precedes a word that starts with a vowel sound; "the" marks a specific, already-identified noun, while no article is used before plural or uncountable nouns referred to in general.
The word "ox" begins with the vowel sound heard in "hot" or "on". Since the sentence describes oxen in general, not one particular, already-known animal, and "ox" is a singular countable noun, it needs the indefinite article that matches a vowel sound: "an". The completed sentence reads, "An ox is a very useful animal."
"The" would require the ox to be one specific animal already known to both speaker and listener, which this general statement about oxen does not establish.
"A" pairs with a following consonant sound, but "ox" opens with a vowel sound, so this option would create the mismatched sequence "a ox".
"No article required" fits a plural or uncountable noun ("oxen are useful animals" needs none), but "ox" here is singular and countable, so it cannot stand without an article.
The vowel-sound rule therefore selects "an", giving "An ox is a very useful animal."