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Difficulty: MediumNouns and Noun Phrases

The investigative panel submitted a comprehensive report containing several valuable ______ regarding the breach of security protocols at the international airport.

Which of the following options correctly completes the sentence?

  1. pieces of adviceAnswer
  2. B
    advices
  3. C
    piece of advices
  4. D
    an advice

Answer

pieces of advice
The term 'advice' is an uncountable noun in English grammar. It cannot take the plural inflectional suffix '-s' nor can it be directly modified by the indefinite article 'an'. To indicate plurality or multiple instances with a quantifier like 'several', English requires a plural partitive noun structure such as 'pieces of advice'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the noun category of the word required in the blank.
The target word 'advice' is a non-count (uncountable) mass noun in Standard English.
Uncountable nouns cannot be directly pluralized with an '-s' suffix nor preceded by the indefinite article 'a' or 'an'.
2
Evaluate the determiners and quantifiers modifying the blank.
The word preceding the blank is 'several', requiring a plural countable structure.
Because 'several' requires a plural noun count structure, a partitive noun phrase like 'pieces of' is needed to quantify the mass noun.
3
Select the option that maintains the base form of the uncountable noun while providing plural partitive quantification.
'pieces of advice' correctly uses the plural partitive 'pieces of' while keeping 'advice' uninflected.
This complies strictly with standard English noun morphology rules.

Key Concept

Countability and Partitive Noun Quantification
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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