Grammar questions about article usage
1.He should be home; I saw ____ in his house
2.He should be home; I saw ____ in his room.

A.. a light B. the light C. lights D. the lights

I'm confused about choosing which will be correct in these two sentences. For the first sentence, I suppose both A and C are correct, because the speaker didn't refer to any specific light in the house. For the second sentence, B and D are correct, because the speaker referred to the specific light in the house.

Hope I've made myself clear enough. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And I want to know why. Thank you! :)

Question

Grammar questions about article usage
1.He should be home; I saw ____  in his house 
2.He should be home; I saw ____  in his room.

A.. a light   B. the light    C. lights   D. the lights

I'm confused about choosing which will be correct in these two sentences. For the first sentence, I suppose both A and C are correct, because the speaker didn't refer to any specific light in the house. For the second sentence, B and D are correct, because the speaker referred to the specific light in the house.

Hope I've made myself clear enough. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And I want to know why. Thank you! :)

Answer

I would say 1 C and 2 D. I would always use for lights in a specific house and for a light in a specific room. But, I would say that is not a very good exam question as other people would quite easily say it in the other ways.

Answer

1.He should be home; I saw lights in his house 
2.He should be home; I saw the light in his room.

I agree with you. A and C fit well in the first sentence and B and D fit well in the second sentence, both answers sound very natural. If I had to just pick one answer I would go with the answers above because I assume he has multiple lights in his house and only one light in his room; however, the other answers could make sense in other situations also.

Answers · 2

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