Do I say "Answer question 4" or "Answer the question 4" ? I'm in doubt about which form to use in a test I'm preparing for my students...
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1This isn't about commands, as such, because the same query applies to "He was about to answer [the] question 4" -- it's actually about whether "question 4" is a name or not. I suppose "The Donald" might be referenced in an answer...– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Mar 8, 2019 at 18:41
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1No, you don't need an article when something is numbered.– Kate BuntingCommented Mar 9, 2019 at 9:19
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1‘Which’ is easy to answer: definitely just the bare noun phrase (no ‘the’). Why? Now, that’s an interesting question.– LawrenceCommented Mar 14, 2019 at 23:13
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1 Answer
It is "question 4" or "question number 4", based on 'every time I've ever heard it'. But it's also "the fourth question", which a teacher giving instructions wouldn't typically say unless the questions aren't numbered. (The students might complain, afterwords, about "that fourth question".)
