Verb “To Be” – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are shopping at a supermarket, a clothing store, or a bookstore. You need to ask the shop assistant about the prices of different items, or you are talking to a friend about how much things cost to decide if you want to buy them.
Choose the best option to complete each sentence.
1 Excuse me, how much ______ this notebook?
(a) are
(b) is
(c) has
2 I want to buy these apples. How much ______ they?
(a) are
(b) is
(c) do
3 The red pen ______ two dollars and fifty cents.
(a) have
(b) are
(c) is
4 “How much is this coffee?”
“______ three euros.”
(a) It is
(b) They are
(c) Is
5 Those postcards ______ fifty cents each. I will take ten of them!
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
6 Excuse me, how much ______ these black shoes?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) do
7 I really like this pair of shoes. How much ______ it?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) does
8 “How much are the cinema tickets?”
“______ 15 dollars.”
(a) It is
(b) There are
(c) They are
9 I cannot buy this winter jacket. It ______ too expensive for me!
(a) has
(b) is
(c) isn’t
10 Let’s buy these strawberries. They ______ very cheap today.
(a) aren’t
(b) isn’t
(c) are
11 How much ______ the milk? I need it for my cake.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) does
12 How much ______ these two bottles of milk?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
13 How much ______ the laptop and the mouse together?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) do
14 I love that leather bag in the window. How much ______ it?
(a) are
(b) does
(c) is
15 How much ______ the children’s books on the top shelf?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
16 Excuse me, how much ______ these blue jeans?
(a) is
(b) do
(c) are
17 How much ______ this big box of chocolates?
(a) are
(b) is
(c) does
18 How much ______ everything in this shopping basket?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) do
19 I need new reading glasses. How much ______ they?
(a) is
(b) are
(c) do
20 “______ this smartphone on sale?”
“Yes, it ______ only $300 today!”
(a) Are / is
(b) Is / is
(c) Does / is
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) is
- Why it’s correct: “This notebook” is a singular object (it), so we use “is”. “How much is…?” is the standard way to ask for a price using the verb To Be.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “are” is for plural objects. (c) “has” is a common translation trap; things don’t “have” a price with this structure in English, they “are” a price.
2 (a) are
- Why it’s correct: “They” (the apples) is a plural subject, so it takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “is” is for singular subjects. (c) “do” is used for the action verb “cost” (How much do they cost?), but not with the pronoun alone.
3 (c) is
- Why it’s correct: “The red pen” is a singular subject, taking “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “have” is a translation error. (b) “are” is for plural subjects.
4 (a) It is
- Why it’s correct: The question asks about “this coffee” (singular, uncountable). The correct pronoun and verb match is “It is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “They are” is for plural items. (c) “Is” is missing the subject “It”.
5 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “Those postcards” is a plural subject (they), taking “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is for singular subjects. (c) “has” is the translation trap.
6 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “These black shoes” is plural, taking “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a common mistake when asking about a single product that comes in a pair. (c) “do” requires the verb “cost” to be correct.
7 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: The subject here is “this pair” (singular), not the shoes themselves. Therefore, it takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is a trap. Learners see “shoes” and choose “are”, but the core noun is “pair”. (c) “does” requires the verb “cost”.
8 (c) They are
- Why it’s correct: “The cinema tickets” is plural. The correct short answer for stating the price is “They are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “It is” is for a singular item. (b) “There are” is used to say something exists (e.g., There are two tickets on the table), not to state a price.
9 (b) is
- Why it’s correct: “It” (the jacket) takes “is”. We use “is” with adjectives like “expensive” or “cheap”.
- Why the others are wrong: (c) “isn’t” contradicts the context (if you cannot buy it, it is expensive). (a) “has” is the translation trap.
10 (c) are
- Why it’s correct: “They” (the strawberries) takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “aren’t” contradicts the context (you want to buy them because they are cheap). (b) “isn’t” is for singular subjects.
11 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: “Milk” is an uncountable noun. In English, uncountable nouns are always treated as singular and take “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is for plural countable nouns. (c) “does” requires the verb “cost”.
12 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: The subject is “these two bottles” (plural). Even though milk is uncountable, bottles are countable. Therefore, it takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a trap for learners who only look at the word “milk”. (c) “have” is the translation trap.
13 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “The laptop and the mouse” is a compound subject (they = two items together). It requires “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” fails to recognize that there are two items. (c) “do” requires the verb “cost”.
14 (c) is
- Why it’s correct: “It” (the bag) takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “are” is for plural subjects. (b) “does” requires the verb “cost”.
15 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “The children’s books” is a plural subject (books). It takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a trap for learners who look at “children’s” and get confused by the apostrophe ‘s’. (c) “has” is the translation trap.
16 (c) are
- Why it’s correct: In English, items of clothing with two legs (jeans, pants, trousers, shorts) are always plural. You must use “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a very common A1 mistake because a pair of jeans is one physical item, but grammatically it is plural. (b) “do” requires the verb “cost”.
17 (b) is
- Why it’s correct: The core subject is “this big box” (singular). The chocolates are inside it, but you are pricing the box. It takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “are” is a trap for learners who only look at the plural word “chocolates”. (c) “does” requires the verb “cost”.
18 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: The pronoun “everything” is grammatically singular in English. It always takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is a trap for learners who think “everything” means many items (plural). (c) “do” requires the verb “cost”.
19 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: Like jeans, “glasses” (for your eyes) is an always-plural noun. It takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a common mistake for learners who think of glasses as one object. (c) “do” requires the verb “cost”.
20 (b) Is / is
- Why it’s correct: “This smartphone” is singular, so the question starts with “Is”. The answer “it” takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) incorrectly uses “Are” for a singular phone. (c) “Does” cannot be used with the prepositional phrase “on sale” without an action verb.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- The “How Much” Formula with To Be: The easiest and most common way to ask for a price is using the Verb “To Be”.
- For one item or uncountable items (water, rice, milk): How much is [it]?
- For multiple items: How much are [they]?
- Beware of Plural-Only Nouns: Some things in English are just one physical object but have two parts. These are always plural and must use “are“.
- Clothes: jeans, pants, trousers, shorts. (How much are these jeans?)
- Tools/Accessories: glasses, sunglasses, scissors. (How much are those glasses?)
- Containers vs. The Item: Pay attention to the first noun!
- The water is $2 (Uncountable = Singular)
- The bottles of water are $5 (Bottles = Plural)
- The box of chocolates is $10 (One box = Singular)
- “To Be” vs. “Cost”: You can ask about price in two ways, but do not mix them up!
- ✅ How much is it? (Verb To Be)
- ✅ How much does it cost? (Action Verb)
- ❌ How much does it? (Wrong!)