Article Usage in English Grammar

This question requires filling in the blank in the sentence "She's ________ cousin of the king's." with the most appropriate English article.

Understanding English Articles

Articles are determiners used before nouns. The main English articles are:

• Indefinite Articles: 'a' and 'an'. They are used before singular, countable nouns when the noun is general or non-specific.
  • 'a' is used before words starting with a consonant sound (e.g., 'a cat', 'a university' - pronounced 'yoo-ni-ver-si-ty').
  • 'an' is used before words starting with a vowel sound (e.g., 'an apple', 'an honest' - where 'h' is silent).
• Definite Article: 'the'. It is used before nouns (singular or plural, countable or uncountable) when the noun is specific or known to the listener/reader.
• No Article: Sometimes, no article is needed, especially with plural nouns or abstract nouns used in a general sense.

Analyzing the Sentence

The sentence is: "She's ________ cousin of the king's."

• The word 'cousin' is a singular, countable noun. Therefore, an article is likely required unless a specific context suggests otherwise.
• The phrase "of the king's" specifies possession – it tells us whose cousin she is. It indicates she belongs to the group of people related to the king.

Determining the Correct Article

Let's examine the choices:

• 'an': Incorrect because 'cousin' starts with a consonant sound (/k/).
• 'No article required': Incorrect because 'cousin' is a singular countable noun here, and the sentence structure requires an article to specify one instance.
• 'the': Using "the cousin" would imply a specific, unique, or previously identified cousin (e.g., "She's the cousin of the king's who lives in France"). The sentence doesn't provide this specific context.
• 'a': Using "a cousin" indicates that she is one among potentially several cousins of the king. This is the most natural and common way to express this relationship when introducing the fact. The structure "a [noun] of [possessive noun]" often takes the indefinite article 'a' or 'an'. Since 'cousin' starts with a consonant sound, 'a' is the correct indefinite article.

Thus, "She's a cousin of the king's" correctly identifies her as one individual within the group of the king's cousins.