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The following is an exercise from [Tae Kim's
Guide](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/particlesintro_ex).

I have to pick は or が to fill in the blanks:

> ジム）アリス ____ 誰？
>
> ボブ）友達だ。彼女 ____ アリスだ

I think we should use は after アリス in the first sentence, but I'm confused
about the second sentence. I think it should be は after 彼女, but the correct
answer is apparently が. Could someone please explain?
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question
は-and-が
Confusion between は and が
I am going to give an answer based on the web site you are using. If you want
more detail please ask. (FYI: There is book on the difference b/w は & が but I
would suggest looking at a few of the Q&A on this website first and make a
note of the comment from Tokyo Nagoya for future reference.)

The website you are looking at explains (quote):

"We ..use the topic particle [は]to explain the current topic of conversation.
Sample: 誰？ （Topic: アリス） ＝ アリスは誰？"

And later:

"the 「が」 particle is only used when you want to identify something out of many
other possibilities”

If we apply these to the task given:

Line 1: "ジム） アリス_ ___ _誰？" simply requires us to to refer to the example taken
from the previous section to illustrate how to the topic particle is used. I
assume this is clear but, just in case, Alice is the topic of the conversation
because Jim is asking about her.

Line2: ボブ） "友達だ。彼女____アリスだ" is the application of the explanation quoted
above:

We can infer from line one that there are several candidates who could be
Alice, Jim is asking Bob, which one.

As per the explanation given, が is used to identify Alice from the
possibilities given. I would guess from the information available that of the
possibilities, at least one of these, but not all, is a friend. Bob's first
statement ("友達だ”) is intended to help narrow down the possibilities. It does
not say but perhaps they are looking at a photograph of several people.
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answer