GATE CSE 2013 | Question: 60

Question

Choose the grammatically INCORRECT sentence:

• A. He is of Asian origin.
  
• B. They belonged to Africa.
  
• C. She is an European.
  
• D. They migrated from India to Australia.

Answer 1

C. She is a European

"The sound of a word's first letter determines which to use. If the word starts with a vowel sound, you should use an. If it starts with a consonant sound, you should use a."

The word "European" does not start with a vowel sound, it starts with the syllable "you". The "y"-sound is in this case a consonant (or at least a half-consonant), so the indefinite article is "a".

Comments

Your explanation is very correct. However, the rule I knew is the exception where the word pronounces starting with 'eeu-' (i-u) or 'oaa-' (o-a) (sorry, I transliterated from Bengali; I studied grammar in that language :)), it will be a instead. Example, a European, a university, a one-eyed deer, a one-hundred rupee note.

Answer 2

The grammatically incorrect sentence is:

She is an European.

Correct: She is European.

The adjective "European" does not require an article like "an" before it when used attributively (before a noun). In this case, it modifies the noun "she" and therefore should not have the article.

The other sentences are grammatically correct:

• He is of Asian origin.
• They belonged to Africa.
• They migrated from India to Australia.

Remember, using articles correctly with adjectives can vary depending on their position in the sentence and how they modify the noun. If you're unsure, it's always a good practice to consult a grammar reference guide or check online resources for clarification.

I hope this helps!