Which word completes the sentence: The Emperor Napolean got by on four hours of sleep a night, and the scientist Thomas Edison claimed it was ________ waste of time.

Which word completes the sentence: The Emperor Napolean got by on four hours of sleep a night, and the scientist Thomas Edison claimed it was ________ waste of time.

• A. a
• B. the
• C. an
• D. some

Answer: (A)

Use an indefinite article before a singular countable noun. Here, “waste” is a singular countable noun, and the expression means one instance of something that isn’t worth time. Before a consonant sound you use “a,” and “waste” starts with the consonant sound /w/, so the correct form is “a waste of time.” “An” would go before a vowel sound, which isn’t the case here; “the” would refer to a specific waste already known in context, and “some” isn’t the natural way to express a single, non-specific instance in this idiom. So the sentence reads: it was a waste of time.

Use an indefinite article before a singular countable noun. Here, “waste” is a singular countable noun, and the expression means one instance of something that isn’t worth time. Before a consonant sound you use “a,” and “waste” starts with the consonant sound /w/, so the correct form is “a waste of time.” “An” would go before a vowel sound, which isn’t the case here; “the” would refer to a specific waste already known in context, and “some” isn’t the natural way to express a single, non-specific instance in this idiom. So the sentence reads: it was a waste of time.