Articles and prepositions questions, with answers
Articles and prepositions are the smallest words in a sentence and some of the easiest to get wrong under time, because the rules that govern them are partly logic and partly habit. 'A', 'an' and 'the' follow a handful of rules that cover most cases; prepositions follow rules for time and place and, beyond those, fixed pairings that have to be learned word by word.
The answers below cover 'a' and 'an', the uses of 'the', where no article is needed, 'in', 'on' and 'at' for time and place, words with fixed prepositions, and how to handle a preposition blank you are unsure of. Then take the free Verbal Ability diagnostic — ten questions drawn from all eight verbal topics — to see whether articles and prepositions are among the topics to work on first.
The questions, with answers
1How do you choose between 'a' and 'an'?
In short: By the first sound of the next word, not its first letter: 'an' goes before a vowel sound and 'a' before a consonant sound.
The article depends on how the next word is pronounced. Words that begin with a vowel letter but a consonant sound take 'a': a uniform, a European country, a one-day course, because they start with a y or w sound. Words that begin with a consonant letter but a vowel sound take 'an': an hour, an heir, an MBA, an FIR, because the h is silent or the letter's name begins with a vowel sound. The article goes with the word right after it, which may be an adjective: an unusual design, but a unique design. Say the phrase in your head and let the sound decide.
2When should you use the definite article, 'the'?
In short: When the reader knows which one you mean: something already mentioned, something unique, a superlative or ordinal, or a noun made specific by what follows.
'The' marks a noun as specific and identifiable. Use it for something already mentioned ('I bought a laptop; the laptop overheats'); for something unique in its context (the sun, the internet, the Prime Minister); with superlatives and ordinals (the best answer, the first round); and for nouns made specific by what follows ('the book on the table', 'the results of the test'). It also goes with the names of rivers, oceans and mountain ranges and with plural country names (the Ganga, the Indian Ocean, the Himalayas, the Netherlands), and with adjectives used for groups of people (the poor, the elderly). Singular names of people, cities and most countries take no article.
3When is no article needed?
In short: Before plural and uncountable nouns used in general, most proper names, meals, languages and subjects, and in fixed phrases such as by bus and at home.
General statements use no article with plural and uncountable nouns: 'Computers need electricity', 'Patience matters'. Adding 'the' makes them specific: 'the computers in this lab'. Names of people, cities, most countries, languages, subjects and meals usually take no article: 'She speaks Tamil', 'We study physics', 'after lunch'. Many fixed phrases drop the article too: by bus, by email, at home, at night, go to school, go to bed. In phrases such as go to school and go to bed, the place is used for its purpose; when you mean the building, the article returns: 'He went to the school to meet the principal'.
4How do you choose between in, on and at for time?
In short: 'At' goes with a precise time, 'on' with days and dates, and 'in' with longer periods such as months, years and parts of the day.
The three move from narrow to broad. 'At' goes with clock times and exact moments: at 9 a.m., at noon, at the end of the day. 'On' goes with days and dates: on Monday, on 15 August, on my birthday. 'In' goes with longer periods: in May, in 2026, in the morning. Two points follow: we say 'at night' but 'in the morning' and 'in the evening', and time expressions such as this morning, next week, last Friday and every day take no preposition: 'We met last Friday', not 'on last Friday'. For deadlines, 'by' means no later than, while 'until' means up to that point: 'Submit it by Friday', but 'The office is closed until Monday'.
5How do you choose between in, on and at for place?
In short: 'At' treats a place as a point, 'on' as a surface or a line, and 'in' as an enclosed space or an area such as a city or a country.
The logic is geometric. 'At' treats the place as a point: at the gate, at the bus stop, at the meeting. 'On' treats it as a surface or a line: on the table, on the wall, on the second floor, on the highway. 'In' treats it as a space with boundaries: in the room, in the car, in Bengaluru, in India. The same place can take different prepositions with a change of view: 'She is at the office' gives her location, while 'She is in the office' places her inside the building. Transport is a known exception: in a car or a taxi, but on a bus, a train or a plane, the larger vehicles you can walk about in.
6Which words take fixed prepositions?
In short: Many adjectives, verbs and nouns take a preposition by convention, such as afraid of, depend on and similar to, and these are learned as pairs.
Beyond time and place, many prepositions are fixed by the word before them, and no rule predicts which. Adjectives: afraid of, proud of, aware of, fond of, similar to, keen on. Verbs: depend on, insist on, consist of, belong to, apply for a job, apply to a company, comply with a rule. Nouns: confidence in, objection to, solution to, reason for. Some words change meaning with the preposition: you agree with a person but agree to a proposal, and you are responsible to a person but responsible for a task. Tests use these pairs in blanks and in error spotting, so keep a list and add to it whenever you meet one.
7How do you handle a preposition blank you are not sure about?
In short: Check the word before the blank for a fixed partner, then ask what relation the blank expresses (time, place, direction or cause) and test each option in the phrase.
Start with the word before the blank: if it has a fixed partner, as in 'She insisted ______ paying the bill', the pair decides the answer, 'on'. If not, ask what relation the blank expresses: time ('at', 'on', 'in', 'by', 'until'), place ('at', 'on', 'in'), direction ('to', 'towards', 'from') or cause ('for', 'because of'). Movement towards a place takes 'to' ('He went to the office'), while position takes 'at' or 'in' ('He is at the office'). Read each option within the whole phrase and prefer the pairing you have seen in edited writing to the one you hear in speech, since spoken forms such as 'discuss about' are the usual traps.
How the diagnostic asks it
One question from the Verbal Ability bank, exactly as a sitting would show it. The bank has 3 on articles & prepositions and 30 across Verbal Ability.
Choose the pair of articles that correctly fills the blanks.
He is ______ honest candidate and ______ useful member of the team.
- 1a ... an
- 2an ... acorrect
- 3an ... an
- 4a ... a
The article depends on the first sound, not the first letter. 'Honest' begins with a vowel sound because the h is silent, so it takes 'an'. 'Useful' begins with a 'yoo' sound, which is a consonant sound, so it takes 'a'. The other three pairs get one or both of these wrong.
Measure it
Reading answers tells you what’s true. A diagnostic tells you what you get wrong.
10 Verbal Ability questions across its topics, easy to hard, about fifteen minutes. You get a readiness figure with the arithmetic shown, the topics you missed named, and a practice set sized for today. Free: a diagnostic in every subject, a retake a month and 15 problems a day. No card.