ESL Robot 5

__________ to play with the kids!

A) What a fun it is
B) What a fun is it
C) What fun it is
D) How fun it is

The correct answer: C) What fun it is.

Explanation:

This is an exclamatory sentence. It expresses strong emotion.
In English, exclamations often begin with "What" or "How", but they follow different grammatical rules.

The structure with "What":

Pattern:
- What + (adjective) + noun + subject + verb!

"What" is used before a noun phrase.

Examples:
What a beautiful day it is!
What nice people they are!
What fun it is! (here "fun" is a noun)

"Fun" here is an uncountable noun (meaning: enjoyment, pleasure). Since it's uncountable, we don't use "a" before it.

He is only thirty, but has got __________.

A) a few gray hairs
B) a few gray hair
C) a little gray hair
D) a little gray hairs

Answer:

The correct answer is A) a few gray hairs.

Explanation:

The noun "hair" can be both countable and uncountable:

- Uncountable (hair) = the entire mass of hair on someone's head
She has long black hair. (all of it)

- Countable (hairs) = individual strands of hair
There is a hair in my soup.
I found three gray hairs on the floor.

- "A few" is used with countable plural nouns:
a few books
a few people
a few gray hairs

- "A little" is used with "uncountable nouns":
a little water
a little hair (if referring to hair as a mass)

She bought __________ eggs at the supermarket.

A) three dozen
B) three dozens
C) three dozens of
D) three dozen of

ANSWER:

The correct answer is A) three dozen.

EXPLANATION:

Here "dozen" acts as a unit of measure like "hundred." We say "three hundred," but not "three hundreds." The same way, we say "three dozen," not "three dozens." "Dozens of" is only used when the number is unspecified, meaning a large amount, like "dozens of people."

Here are some examples:

three dozen eggs (correct)
two dozen roses (correct)
six dozen cookies (correct)
two dozen roses (correct)
a dozen apples (correct)
dozens of apples (correct)
I have dozens of eggs. (correct)
Dozens of people came. (correct)

"Of" is only used if there's one of the words like the, these, my, them):
three dozen of those eggs (correct)
three dozen of them (correct)
three dozen of those apples (correct)

three dozens eggs (wrong)
three dozens (wrong)
three dozens of (wrong)
three dozen of eggs (wrong)
two dozens of roses (wrong)
three dozen of apples (wrong)

There are three _________________ working for the project.

A) women scientists
B) woman scientists
C) women scientist
D) woman scientist

The correct answer is A) women scientists

Explanation:

Even though we usually keep modifiers singular (like "shoe store" and "room numbers"), there's an exception when the modifier is an irregular plural noun. Here, "women" is the plural of "woman," so it stays plural to match the plural noun "scientists." the following are more examples.

1. Women + plural noun
- women doctors
- women leaders
- women pilots
- women engineers
- women artists
- women politicians
- women athletes
- women soldiers
- women writers
- women entrepreneurs

2. Men + plural noun
- men nurses
- men models
- men dancers
- men chefs
- men caregivers
- men volunteers
- men coaches
- men directors
- men hairstylists
- men flight attendants

3. Children + plural noun
- children actors
- children patients
- children performers
- children participants
- children authors
- children athletes
- children artists
- children singers
- children writers
- children survivors

4. People + plural noun
- people skills (*a fixed expression*)
- people managers
- people pleasers
- people watchers
- people movers
- people persons (*e.g., "She's a real people person"*)

We forgot both of the __________ .

A) rooms numbers
B) room's numbers
C) room number
D) room numbers

The correct answer is D) room numbers.

Explanation:

The word "both" indicates there are two of something. So the noun that follows must be plural. In English, when a noun modifies another noun (a compound noun), the first noun is usually singular — even if the second noun is plural. This is the same rule we saw in the previous exercise ("shoe store", not "shoes store").

More examples of this structure:

car keys
movie titles
phone numbers
bus schedules
ticket prices
student IDs

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Moving Notice

Would you tell me where the __________ store is?

A) shoes
B) shoe
C) shoe's
D) shoes'

ANSWER:

The correct answer is B) shoe.

EXPLANATION:

This question is about compound nouns and noun modifiers in English.

In English, when we use a noun to describe another noun (like a "shoe store"), the first noun is usually in its singular form, even if it refers to something that is often plural in meaning. This is because the first noun acts as an adjective, and adjectives in English don't have plural forms.

More examples of noun + noun (singular modifier):

Bookstore
Toy store
Car dealer
Movie theater
Computer shop
Ticket office

With the address given to him, he had no __________ in finding his friend's new house.
A) difficulties
B) troubles
C) difficulty
D) difficult

ANSWER:

The correct answer is C) difficulty.

EXPLANATION:

"Had no difficulty" is a fixed expression meaning "it was easy" — it’s uncountable here. "Difficult" is an adjective, so it cannot follow "had no" directly.

She bought __________ eggs at the supermarket.

A) three dozen
B) three dozens

ANSWER:

The correct answer is A) three dozen.

EXPLANATION:

When used with a number, "dozen" remains in the singular form:

- three dozen eggs (correct)

- two dozen roses (correct)

- a dozen pencils (correct)

"Dozens" is used when referring to a large, unspecified number:

- She has dozens of books. (meaning "many books")

- Dozens of people attended the event. (not an exact count)

Remember, "dozen" does not take an "-s" when preceded by a number. The phrase "dozens of" is correct, but "three dozens" is not.

John __________ Mike when they met at the airport.
A) shook hand with
B) shake hands with
C) shook hands with
D) shake a hand with

ANSWER:

The correct answer is C) shook hands with

EXPLANATION:

The sentence describes an action that happened in the past ("when they met at the airport"), so the verb must be in the past tense. When two people greet each other, they typically shake hands (each person uses one hand, so it's a mutual action involving two hands).

- ESL Fast

There are three _________________ working for the project.

A) women scientists
B) woman scientists
C) women scientist
D) woman scientist

ANSWER:

The correct answer is A) women scientists

EXPLANATION:

In English, when a noun modifies another noun, it usually stays in the singular form (e.g., three shoe stores, three child actors, four car doors). However, "woman" is a special noun. When it is pluralized, both parts must be plural (three women scientists).

- ESL Fast

We forgot both of the __________ .

A) rooms numbers
B) room's numbers
C) room number
D) room numbers

ANSWER:

The correct answer is D) room numbers

EXPLANATION:

"Both of the" indicates that we are talking about two items. "Room numbers" is the plural form. Grammatically and logically, this is the correct choice. Here "room" is functioning as a noun modifier describing what kind of numbers they are. Therefore, "rooms numbers" is incorrect.