The following sentence has been divided into four segments. Identify the segment in which the article has been used INCORRECTLY. In the recent past, the IT industry has emerged / as a major contributor to an industry revenue / as well as employment / opportunity provider in the country.

Correct — A. The head noun of this segment is revenue, which is uncountable, so it cannot take an. The reference is specific as well — the revenue of the IT industry the sentence has just named — and a specific noun takes the definite article.

Written correctly the segment reads 'as a major contributor to the industry's revenue'. Note that a major contributor is fine: contributor is countable and this is its first mention. The faulty article is the second one → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  In the recent past, the IT industry has emerged — In the recent past and the IT industry are both correctly definite — a fixed time reference, and a single identified sector. Neither article needs changing.
• (c)
  opportunity provider in the country. — The only article here is the, in 'in the country', and one particular country is understood from the sentence. The segment carries no faulty article.
• (d)
  as well as employment — As well as employment contains no article at all, so it cannot be the segment in which an article has been used incorrectly.

Two article rules decide this item.

First, revenue here is a mass noun, and a mass noun in its general sense takes no a or an: write industry revenue or the industry's revenue, never an industry revenue. An indefinite article returns only once the noun is individuated — a revenue of ₹500 crore — which this segment does not do.

Second, the article must match the reference. A noun already identified by earlier words in the sentence — here the revenue of the IT industry — is definite, so it takes the.

The four-segment format hides the fault in a phrase that reads fluently at speed, so find every article and test each against its own head noun.

Key facts

• In its mass sense revenue takes no a or an: industry revenue or the industry's revenue, not an industry revenue.
• A noun already identified by earlier words in the same sentence takes the definite article the.
• A or an is selected by the sound of the word that immediately follows it, not by the head noun.

Common traps

• Marking the first segment because 'the IT industry' looks like an unnecessary the
• Reading 'a major contributor' as the fault, when the countable noun contributor takes it correctly
• Choosing a segment that contains no article at all

No directly related past PYQ was found.