NDA (I) 2024 General Ability Test · Question 10 of 146

Correct — C, the. 'The atmosphere' takes the definite article because Earth's atmosphere is a unique, specific thing already understood from the context, not one of many. 'A' or 'an' would wrongly treat it as one unspecified atmosphere among several, and dropping the article altogether ('in atmosphere') is ungrammatical for this singular countable noun.

• (a)an — The indefinite article wrongly treats Earth's unique atmosphere as one unspecified atmosphere among several.
• (b)a — Indefinite 'a' is wrong for a unique noun and is also phonetically wrong before the vowel sound of 'atmosphere'.
• (d)no article — Dropping the article before the singular countable noun 'atmosphere' is ungrammatical here.

A cloze item on article use — the definite article 'the' before a unique, specific noun.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  We watched ______ sun set over the sea.

  • (a)a
  • (b)an
  • (c)the
  • (d)no article

  Answer(c) the — the sun is unique, so it takes the definite article.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Pollution levels in ______ air have risen sharply this year.

  • (a)an
  • (b)the
  • (c)a
  • (d)no article

  Answer(b) the — 'the air' refers to a specific, known thing.