Article Worksheet20 Exam-Style Questions with Answers
Ten fill-in-the-blank, five error-correction, and five sentence-transformation questions — the three formats SSC, IELTS, and UPSC actually use to test articles. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
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Cover the answer with your hand or a piece of paper, attempt the question on your own, then click to reveal the correct answer and explanation. Download the full worksheet as a PDF using the button below to practise offline or hand it to students.
Prof. Amirul Khan — amirulkhan.in
Article Worksheet — 20 Exam-Style Questions
✏️ Section A — Fill in the Blanks (10 Questions)
Write the correct article (a / an / the / zero article) in each blank.
1. She is ___ honest officer who earned ___ historic promotion.
Reveal Answer
Answer: an ... a
'Honest' begins with a silent 'h' (vowel sound) → 'an'. 'Historic' begins with an aspirated /h/ sound → 'a'.
2. ___ India shares its northern border with ___ Himalayas.
Reveal Answer
Answer: (zero) ... the
Country names take zero article (India). Mountain ranges take 'the' (the Himalayas).
3. A woman entered the office. ___ woman asked to speak to the manager.
Reveal Answer
Answer: The
Subsequent mention of an already-introduced noun requires 'the', not 'a'.
4. He plays ___ piano every evening but never plays ___ cricket.
Reveal Answer
Answer: the ... (zero)
Musical instruments always take 'the'. Sports and games take zero article.
5. She was unanimously elected ___ President of the club.
Reveal Answer
Answer: (zero)
After verbs of designation (elect, appoint, make), a unique title takes zero article — never 'a' or 'the'.
6. ___ rich must not forget the struggles of ___ poor.
Reveal Answer
Answer: The ... the
'The' + adjective forms a plural collective noun referring to a whole group of people, and always takes a plural verb.
7. After graduating, she became ___ architect, while her friend became ___ engineer.
Reveal Answer
Answer: an ... an
Ordinary professions shared by many people require 'a/an' as a complement — 'an architect', 'an engineer'.
8. ___ harder you study, ___ better your results will be.
Reveal Answer
Answer: The ... the
The comparative correlative construction requires 'the' before both comparative clauses, as a fixed grammatical marker.
9. We usually have ___ lunch at 1 pm, but ___ lunch we had at the wedding was memorable.
Reveal Answer
Answer: (zero) ... the
Meals take zero article generally, but 'the' when narrowed to one specific instance by a modifying phrase.
10. He was rushed to ___ hospital after the accident, and his sister later went to ___ hospital to visit him.
Reveal Answer
Answer: (zero) ... the
Going to an institution for its primary purpose (as a patient) takes zero article. Visiting it for another reason takes 'the'.
🔍 Section B — Error Correction (5 Questions)
Find the article error(s) in each sentence and correct them.
11. “The honesty is the best policy, and the courage is required in every walk of the life.”
Reveal Correction
The honesty ... the courage ... the life
Corrected: “Honesty is the best policy, and courage is required in every walk of life.”
Abstract nouns used in a general, philosophical sense (honesty, courage, life) take zero article. 'Walk of life' is also a fixed expression with no article before 'life'.
12. “She was elected as the President of the student union and became the secretary general of committee.”
Reveal Correction
elected as the President ... became the secretary general
Corrected: “She was elected President of the student union and became Secretary General of the committee.”
After verbs of designation, the title takes zero article and 'as' is redundant. Note also that 'of the committee' correctly keeps 'the' since it refers to one specific, identified committee.
13. “He plays a violin beautifully and also plays the badminton every weekend.”
Reveal Correction
plays a violin ... plays the badminton
Corrected: “He plays the violin beautifully and also plays badminton every weekend.”
Musical instruments always take 'the' ('the violin'), while sports and games take zero article ('badminton', not 'the badminton') — the two rules are opposite.
14. “The French is known for its cuisine, and the rich often forgets the struggles of the poor.”
Reveal Correction
The French is ... the rich often forgets
Corrected: “The French are known for their cuisine, and the rich often forget the struggles of the poor.”
'The' + nationality or adjective forms a plural collective noun and always takes a plural verb, even though no plural noun is visibly present.
15. “She is doctor at the city hospital, and her brother became engineer after graduating last year.”
Reveal Correction
is doctor ... became engineer
Corrected: “She is a doctor at the city hospital, and her brother became an engineer after graduating last year.”
Ordinary professions require 'a/an' as a complement after 'be/become' — 'a doctor', 'an engineer' — since many people share these roles.
🔁 Section C — Sentence Transformation (5 Questions)
Follow the instruction to complete or rewrite each sentence.
Complete the sentence using the correct article pattern for first mention and subsequent mention.
16. ___ boy was standing at the bus stop. ___ boy looked anxious and kept checking his watch.
Reveal Answer
Answer: A ... The
The first mention of a countable noun takes 'a'; every later reference to that same, now-identified noun takes 'the'.
Rewrite the sentence using the comparative correlative construction.
17. You practise more, you become more confident. (Rewrite using 'the more ... the more').
Reveal Answer
Answer: The more you practise, the more confident you become.
The fixed correlative construction requires 'the' before both comparative clauses, even though 'more' alone would not normally take an article.
Choose the correct option: a / an / the / zero article.
18. He was diagnosed with ___ diabetes, but he is slowly recovering from ___ flu he caught last week.
Reveal Answer
Answer: (zero) ... the
Most disease names take zero article (diabetes, cancer, malaria), but a few common illnesses conventionally take 'the' in everyday usage — 'the flu', 'the mumps'.
Choose the correct option: a / an / the / zero article.
19. ___ tiger is a carnivorous animal, and ___ computer has transformed how students learn.
Reveal Answer
Answer: The ... the
'The' before a singular countable noun can refer to an entire species or class — a generic-singular use frequently seen in formal writing and comprehension passages.
Identify and fix the double-determiner error.
20. A my colleague recommended that book to me.
Reveal Answer
Answer: A colleague of mine recommended that book to me.
Articles cannot be combined directly with possessives before the same noun. Use the 'of' construction instead: 'a colleague of mine', not 'a my colleague'.