Verb “To Be” – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You recently booked a hotel online for your holiday. Now that your trip is over, you are writing a review on a travel website. You want to praise the good things (like friendly staff or clean rooms) and complain about the bad things (like slow Wi-Fi or expensive food).
Choose the best option to complete each sentence in your hotel review.
1 The hotel ______ very beautiful and close to the city center.
(a) is
(b) has
(c) are
2 We loved our stay. The room ______ small but very clean.
(a) be
(b) is
(c) are
3 I slept really well because the beds ______ very comfortable.
(a) are
(b) is
(c) have
4 I ______ very happy with the service at this hotel!
(a) am
(b) is
(c) have
5 The breakfast ______ good. The bread was hard and the coffee was cold.
(a) doesn’t
(b) aren’t
(c) isn’t
6 The receptionists ______ always friendly and ready to help us.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
7 The location ______ great, but the rooms ______ very noisy at night.
(a) is / are
(b) are / is
(c) is / have
8 My husband and I ______ very disappointed with the bathroom.
(a) is
(b) am
(c) are
9 Do not work from here! The Wi-Fi ______ really slow in the bedroom.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
10 The towels in the bathroom ______ clean. We found dirty spots on them.
(a) isn’t
(b) aren’t
(c) don’t
11 “______ the hotel close to the beach?” “Yes, it is only a 5-minute walk.”
(a) Does
(b) Is
(c) Are
12 The pillows ______ too hard, and the blanket ______ too thin.
(a) is / are
(b) are / is
(c) are / are
13 We ______ happy about the extra charges for the swimming pool.
(a) aren’t
(b) don’t
(c) isn’t
14 The food and the drinks in the minibar ______ very expensive.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
15 I highly recommend this place. Everyone in the hotel ______ so polite.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
16 The furniture in the room ______ very old and broken.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
17 I asked for help, but nobody at the front desk ______ helpful.
(a) are
(b) is
(c) does
18 The information on the website ______ correct. The pool is actually closed!
(a) doesn’t
(b) aren’t
(c) isn’t
19 The people in the room next door ______ very loud at 2 AM.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
20 “______ the cleaning services good?” “No, they ______.”
(a) Are / aren’t
(b) Is / isn’t
(c) Do / don’t
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: “The hotel” is a singular subject (it), so it takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “has” is a common translation trap. A building doesn’t “have” beautiful; it is beautiful. (c) “are” is for plural subjects.
2 (b) is
- Why it’s correct: “The room” takes “is”. We use “To Be” + adjective to describe spaces.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “be” is the unconjugated base form. (c) “are” is for plural subjects.
3 (a) are
- Why it’s correct: “The beds” is a plural subject (they), taking “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “is” is for singular subjects. (c) “have” is the translation trap.
4 (a) am
- Why it’s correct: “I” always takes the verb “am”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “is” does not match “I”. (c) “have” is incorrect for describing your feelings/states.
5 (c) isn’t
- Why it’s correct: “The breakfast” is singular, so the negative is “is not” (isn’t).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “doesn’t” is used with action verbs, not adjectives like “good”. (b) “aren’t” is for plural subjects.
6 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “The receptionists” is plural, taking “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is for singular subjects. (c) “have” is incorrect for linking a subject to an adjective.
7 (a) is / are
- Why it’s correct: “The location” is singular (is), and “the rooms” is plural (are).
- Why the others are wrong: (b) matches the verbs backwards. (c) uses “have”, which is the translation trap for describing a state (noisy).
8 (c) are
- Why it’s correct: “My husband and I” form a plural compound subject (we). Therefore, you must use “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “am” is a huge trap because learners see the word “I” right next to the blank, forgetting the other person. (a) “is” is for singular subjects.
9 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: “The Wi-Fi” is an uncountable singular noun. It takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is for plural subjects. (c) “has” is the translation trap.
10 (b) aren’t
- Why it’s correct: “The towels” is plural, so it takes the negative “are not” (aren’t).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “isn’t” is a mistake if you look at “the bathroom” instead of the true subject (“The towels”). (c) “don’t” is for action verbs.
11 (b) Is
- Why it’s correct: “The hotel” is singular. To ask a Yes/No question with an adjective (close), we start with “Is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “Does” is for action verbs. (c) “Are” is for plural subjects.
12 (b) are / is
- Why it’s correct: “The pillows” is plural (are), and “the blanket” is singular (is).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) and (c) fail to match the singular/plural subjects correctly.
13 (a) aren’t
- Why it’s correct: “We” takes the negative “are not” (aren’t).
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “don’t” is used with action verbs. (c) “isn’t” is for singular subjects.
14 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: “The food and the drinks” is a plural compound subject (they = two things). It requires “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” fails to recognize that there are two items. (c) “has” is the translation trap.
15 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: The pronoun “Everyone” is grammatically singular. It must take “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is a trap for learners who think “everyone” means a plural group of people. (c) “have” is the translation trap.
16 (a) is
- Why it’s correct: The word “furniture” is an uncountable noun in English. It always takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “are” is a mistake because learners think of furniture as many different chairs and tables. (c) “has” is the translation trap.
17 (b) is
- Why it’s correct: Just like “everyone”, the pronoun “Nobody” acts as a singular subject and takes “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “are” is for plural subjects. (c) “does” is for action verbs.
18 (c) isn’t
- Why it’s correct: “Information” is an uncountable noun in English. It is always singular and takes “is not” (isn’t).
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “aren’t” is a mistake because students often think of information as multiple facts. (a) “doesn’t” is for action verbs.
19 (b) are
- Why it’s correct: The word “people” is an irregular plural noun (the plural of person). It always takes “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) “is” is a common A1 mistake because “people” doesn’t end in ‘s’, so learners think it’s singular. (c) “have” is the translation trap.
20 (a) Are / aren’t
- Why it’s correct: “The cleaning services” is plural, so the question must start with “Are”. The short answer matches with “they aren’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) “Is / isn’t” is for singular subjects. (c) “Do / don’t” is for action verbs, but “good” is an adjective.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Reviewing with “To Be”: When writing a review, you are mostly giving your opinion about the quality of things (e.g., clean, dirty, friendly, rude, big, small, expensive). Because these are adjectives, you MUST connect them to the subject using the Verb “To Be”.
- ❌ The room has very small.
- ✅ The room is very small.
2 Watch the True Subject: Don’t let prepositional phrases trick you!
- The towels in the bathroom are dirty. (The subject is the plural “towels”, not the singular “bathroom”).
3 Tricky Uncountable Nouns in Hotels: Some nouns represent a group of things but are always singular (uncountable). You must use “is” with them. Memorize these for travel:
- Furniture (The furniture is old.)
- Information (The information is helpful.)
- Wi-Fi (The Wi-Fi is fast.)
- Luggage / Baggage (My luggage is heavy.)
4 Irregular Plural (People): The word “people” means more than one person. It is always plural and always takes “are“. (The people here are nice.)