The Notorious Confusables "There is" or "There are" Its/It's and There/Their/They're Use "there is" for one item. (singular nouns) Use "there is" for non-count items. (non-count nouns) Use "there are" for many items. (plural nouns) There is a spider on the wall. There is milk on the floor. There are pencils on my desk. Read the sentence, decide on the answer, then click the answer button to see the correct answer. is/are 1. There ______ many animals in the zoo. are 2. There ______ a snake in the window. is 3. There ______ a zebra in the grass. is 4. There ______ lions in the zoo, too. are 5. There ______ many baby lions near their parents. are 6. There ______ a bird next to the tree. is 7. There ______ many monkeys in the trees. are 8. There ______ an elephant in the zoo. is 9. There ______ some water in the lake near the elephants. is 10. There ______ birds in the zoo. are 11. There ______ many people visiting the animals today. are 12. There ______ many children, too. are 13. There ______ a gorilla in the tree. is 14. There ______ some grass under the tree. is 15. There ______ bananas in the tree with the gorilla. are 16. There ______ many birds near the gorilla. are 17. There ______ a rock near the tree. is 18. There ______ many sharks in the aquarium. are 19. There ______ an eel in the aquarium, too. is 20. There ______ lots of water for the fish. is 21. There ______ many animals to see at the zoo. are Its/It's and There/Their/They're Select one answer from the choices provided after each sentence. The word you choose should fit the blank in the sentence. its = The possessive form of it. it's = The contracted form of it is or it has. 1. _____ up to you. Its It's Answer:It's 2. I knew what model car it was, but I wasn't sure about ____ color. its it's Answer:its 3. I'm afraid ____ going to be a very long season for the Mighty Ducks. its it's Answer:it's 4. His fear of ____ being a very long season seemed contagious. its it's Answer:its there = 1. at or in that place; 2. toward, to, or into that place; 3. used in impersonal constructions in which the real subject follows the verb. their = The possessive form of they. they're = The contracted form of they are. 5. ______ are no excuses this time, Buddy! There Their They're Answer:There 6. I can't imagine where __________ going after the movie. there their they're Answer:they're 7. It's ________ car, so let them decide where we're going. there their they're Answer:their 8. Wherever ________ are two or more firefighters in the same room, you know what they'll be talking about. there their they're Answer:there 9. Whatever ________ doing to this highway, it seems to be taking forever to finish. there their they're Answer:they're 10. These students have a poor attendance record. I'm worried about ______ being absent during next week's exams. there their they're Answer:their There There is an apple of the table. There was a problem with the printer. There have been many cases similar to this one. While using this construction in which there actually takes the position of the subject, we can put the real subject beyond the object and expose the part of the sentence that is expressed by it, e.g.: There will be a meeting for all members next Wednesday As you might suspect, questions are formed by inversion. Is there any butter on the table? 1. I couldn't tell _______________ she was serious or not. whether weather Answer:whether 2. ____________ are too many possible answers to this question. They're There Their Answer:There 3. _________ going to help me with this? Whose Who's Answer:Who's 4. Reading that book had a peculiar _______________ on Evelyn. effect affect Answer:effect 5. I am completely _________________ in this course. uninterested disinterested Answer:uninterested 6. I'm afraid she's going to _____________ her grandmother's wedding band. loose lose Answer:lose 7. My mother has been _______________ in bed all morning. lieing laying lying Answer:lying 8. She has apparently found it difficult to ___________ the circumstances. accept except Answer:accept 9. She apparently doesn't care about ___________ origins in antiquity. it's its Answer:its 10. It's usually hotter __________ this in July. than then Answer:than 11. The politicians can't seem to find an appropriate ___________ for the new community college. cite sight site Answer:site 12. I've never known the library to be _____________ this quiet. quite quiet quit Answer:quite http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quiz_list.htm