Articles Quiz | Intermediate Level | 20 Questions & Answers with Explanations

Serious diseases like malaria and diabetes take no article at all, unlike more minor, countable-feeling ailments such as "a cold" or "a headache," which can take "a/an."

Memory hook: serious diseases skip the article — she has malaria, not a malaria.

Academic subjects like Physics take no article at all when referred to generally, following the same zero-article pattern as languages and sports.

Memory hook: subjects, languages, and sports all skip the article — studying Physics, speaking Tamil, playing cricket.

"The very" (meaning "exactly this") is a fixed phrase that always takes "the," similar to "the same" and "the only."

Memory hook: same, only, very — these three almost always demand "the" right before them.

Individual mountain peaks like Mount Everest take no article, unlike mountain ranges such as "the Himalayas," which always take "the."

Memory hook: one peak, no article; a range of peaks, always "the" — Mount Everest, but the Himalayas.

Musical instruments always take "the" ("the guitar"), while sports always take no article at all ("football"), so combining both correctly in one sentence requires checking each noun separately.

Memory hook: instrument gets "the," sport gets nothing — the guitar and football.

"MLA" is an abbreviation, so you read the first letter aloud rather than the whole word — "M" is pronounced "em," which starts with a vowel sound, so "an" is correct.

Memory hook: for abbreviations, sound out the first letter, not the word — an MLA, an NGO, an MBA.

"The + adjective" is used to refer to a whole group of people sharing that quality, so both "the rich" and "the poor" need "the" to function as collective nouns.

Memory hook: "the" plus an adjective creates a group of people — the rich, the poor, the elderly.

"Diabetes," like other serious medical conditions, takes no article at all, following the same rule as malaria and other diseases used in a general clinical sense.

Memory hook: chronic and serious diseases go article-free — diagnosed with diabetes, not a diabetes.

"Headache" begins with a pronounced "h" sound (a consonant sound), unlike silent-H words such as "hour," so it correctly takes "a," not "an."

Memory hook: not every H is silent — headache keeps its "h" sound, so it's a headache, unlike an hour.

Cities, like most countries, take no article, so "Delhi" correctly appears without "the," unlike exceptions such as "the Netherlands."

Memory hook: cities never take an article — Delhi, Mumbai, London, Paris, all with zero article.

The phrase "one of the [plural noun]" requires "the" before the plural noun, since it refers to a specific group being singled out from, not a general category.

Memory hook: "one of the" always pairs with "the" plus a plural noun — one of the great countries.

As with all musical instruments, "tabla" requires "the" when talking about learning or playing it, regardless of how naturally it might feel to drop the article in translation from Indian languages.

Memory hook: instrument = always "the" — learning the tabla, no exceptions.

Musical instruments always take "the," so "the violin" is correct, while "the cricket team" here correctly uses "the" because it refers to one specific, already-known team, not the sport itself.

Memory hook: instruments always take "the," and check whether "team" refers to a specific one before deciding its article.

"Best" is a superlative and always takes "the," and this is reinforced here by the relative clause "who has ever appeared," which makes the noun even more specific.

Memory hook: superlatives always take "the," and a defining relative clause adds extra confirmation — the best student who has ever appeared.

Abstract nouns like "honesty" and "integrity," used in a general sense, take no article at all, and a title followed directly by a name also takes no article.

Memory hook: abstract nouns in general statements and titles-plus-names both skip the article — Professor Ramesh Kumar, on honesty and integrity.

"MBA" is read letter by letter as "em-bee-ay," and since "em" starts with a vowel sound, "an" is correct, while "institute" begins with the vowel sound "in," making "a reputed institute" correct since "reputed" (the word right before the noun) begins with a consonant sound "r."

Memory hook: the article agrees with the sound of the very next word — an MBA, a reputed institute.

The relative clause "that escaped from the zoo" makes "tiger" specific and identifiable, so it takes "the," unlike a general statement about tigers as a class, which would use "a tiger" or no article with the plural form.

Memory hook: a defining relative clause turns a general noun into a specific one — the tiger that escaped.

To make a general statement about a class using a singular countable noun, "a" is used, as an alternative to the plural form "tigers are dangerous animals" without any article.

Memory hook: general class statements can go two ways — "a tiger is dangerous" (singular) or "tigers are dangerous" (plural, no article).

Meals generally take no article ("we had dinner at 8 pm"), but once a specific meal is identified by a relative clause like "we had last night," it becomes specific enough to require "the."

Memory hook: a meal becomes specific with added detail — dinner (general) versus the dinner we had last night (specific).

"Water" is an uncountable noun used here in a general sense, so it takes no article, unlike a specific reference such as "the water in this glass is cold."

Memory hook: general uncountable nouns skip the article — water is essential, but the water in this glass is cold (specific).