Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:
There are many ______ on the shelf.
a) paper
b) magazines
c) book
d) dust

Answer 1

Hint: Look at the given options and see which of the given options can be used in the sentence. Notice the word many. The question of countable and uncountable nouns comes into the picture. If the object is countable, we use the word “many”.

Complete answer:
 Option a is wrong because of usage of the word many shows that more than one object is being talked about. Option a is paper which refers to a single sheet of paper. We cannot use the word “many” before a singular noun.
Option b is the correct answer because magazines are the plural form of the word magazine. Magazines refer to the fact that there is more than one object so it fits in properly with the use of the word many.
Option c is wrong because just like option a, the word book refers to a single book. Since the word many has been used, we cannot refer to a single book. We could have used the word “many” if the word would have been “books”. There are many books on the shelf.
Option d is wrong because dust is uncountable and we cannot use the word many with uncountable nouns like dust. We can say “There is a lot of dust on the shelf” but not “There are many dust on the shelf”.

Note:
 Before choosing an option, always read the question very carefully because a lot of hints are in the question itself. “Many” can be used with countable nouns only if the noun has been expressed in the plural form, that is, books, papers, etc., and not a book, paper, etc.