GATE CS 2025 Set 1 Q.1: Verbal Ability and Grammar

Ravi had ______ younger brother who taught at ______ university. He was widely regarded as ______ honorable man.

Select the option with the correct sequence of articles to fill in the blanks.

a; a; an

the; an; a

a; an; a

an; an; a

Official answer and solution

Solution

Choose indefinite articles 'a' or 'an' based on whether each following word begins with a consonant sound or a vowel sound.

younger begins with the consonant glide sound /j/, so it takes a (a younger brother).
university also begins with the consonant sound /juː/, so it takes a (a university).
honorable begins with a silent h followed by the vowel sound /ɒ/, so it takes an (an honorable man).

Thus the correct sequence of articles is a; a; an.

Final answer

Option (A)

Common trap

Choosing 'an' before 'university' because 'u' is a vowel letter, despite its consonant initial sound /juː/.

The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.

Paper: GATE 2025 Computer Science and Information Technology - Session 1 (CS1)
Question: 1 of 65
Section: General Aptitude

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