> Other English exercises on the same topics: Numbers | Plural [Change theme]
	> Similar tests: - Plural - Plural forms - Cardinal and ordinal numbers - Countable or Uncountable? - Fractions and percentages - Plural of words - Verb-singular or plural? - ESL-Numbers from 1 to 10
	> Double-click on words you don't understand

Dozen(s), hundred(s), thousand(s), million(s)? - English lesson

This grammatical point is quite easy, yet it is among the most frequent mistakes made by students and learners...  It looks as if students often decide for plural or singular randomly...  I hope that at the end of this lesson, you'll be able to do the test and pass it easily and that you'll never make this mistake again... 

 1)  a score (= 20, in Old English), a dozen ( = 12 ), a hundred ( =  100 ), a thousand ( = 1,000 ), a million ( = 1,000,000 ) and a billion remain in the singular when they are multiplied by a precise number or preceded by several, some, a few, many. 

Clearly, they are numeric adjectives, and like all adjectives, they always remain in the singular. They are followed by a noun (expressed or not). 

- Sixty thousand fans were attending the final of the World Cup and screaming to encourage their favourite team!

- There were at least seven or eight hundred demonstrators to protest against the arrest of a political leader...

2) On the contrary, ten, score, dozen, hundred, thousand, million, billion can be in the plural, when they are followed by ‘of' and by a noun. 

Indeed, they stop being adjectives and become nouns linked to other nouns by the preposition ‘of'. 

-Thousands of students were taking the exam all over the country. 

- Millions of suburbans commute to NYC every morning.

NB: When is a billion not a billion? 

In British English :pgb billion traditionally means a million million = 1,000,000,000,000 = 10^{12 (ten power twelve)}
In American English :pus billion means a thousand million=1,000,000,000 = 10^{9 (ten power nine)}
The American billion has become standard in technical and financial use. 
However, to avoid confusion it is better to use the terms "thousand million" for 10^{9 (ten power nine)} and "million million" for 10^{12 (ten power twelve)}. 
Milliard is French for the number 10^{9 (ten power nine)}. It is not used in American English but is sometimes, but rarely, used in British English. 

You'll simply have to determine whether the numerals are preceded by a specific number or if they are nouns expressing quantities which are not  specific. 

Come on! Good luck! I hope you'll enjoy it! 

Twitter Share
English exercise "Dozen(s), hundred(s), thousand(s), million(s)?" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
Click here to see the current stats of this English test

Please log in to save your progress.

1. With the new super fast transit system, more than fifty thousandsfifty thousand offifty thousandI don't know suburbans will save time every day commuting downtown.

2. This actress receives some hundred of letterssome hundreds letterssome hundred lettersI don't know from her fans every day.

3. Following the social networks, thousand enthusiastic followersthousands enthusiastic followersthousands of enthusiastic followersI don't know had come to welcome their champions at the airport.

4. During the winter, several hundreds carshundred carshundreds of carsI don't know were stuck on the motorway because of black ice. It was closed for days.

5. 'Really, Lucy, you have finished reading this book! It has more than seven hundredseven hundreds ofseven hundredsI don't know pages! Well done, girl!'

6. On D-day, around one hundred and sixty thousandhundred and sixty thousand ofhundred and sixty thousandsI don't know allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy.

7. Overlooking Omaha Beach, the Normandy American Cemetery has more than nine thousand burialsnine thousands of burialsnine thousands burialsI don't know.

8. Several millions ofSeveral millionsSeveral millionI don't know young people rallied in more than a hundred countrieshundred countriesa hundred of countriesI don't know all over the world to eliminate single-use plastics.

9. In some countries, rural depopulation is now being reversed: twenty years ago, there were only eight hundredseight hundred ofeight hundredI don't know inhabitants in this village, now the population is nearing three thousands peoplethree thousand peoplethree thousand of peopleI don't know.