Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable article:

If you're looking for a good pub, I would recommend _______ Ship Inn.

(Ship Inn is not very famous and your friend does not know about it.)

• A. a
• B. an
• C. the
• D. no article

Answer 1

The correct option is D no article

In most cases, when a noun is a proper noun, an article is not placed before it. 'Ship Inn' is a proper noun and does not need an article hence option D is correct. 'A' and 'an' are indefinite articles which we use when the noun is non-specific since the noun here is specific as it's a proper noun, an indefinite article cannot be used. Options A and B are thus incorrect. We use 'the' when a proper noun is famous and there is only one in existence. For example, "We were spellbound by the beauty of the Taj Mahal when we visited it." Since 'Ship Inn' is not very famous and the listener does not know about it, we don't use 'the'. Hence option C is incorrect.