Basic English Quiz

When you visit another country (or talk to someone about your own), you can communicate better when you can understand and use numbers in describing countries — their history, geography, population, and even economy.

Listen to the recording and answer the questions. Then, review the script to this listening activity at the bottom of the page.

Using the Internet, collect information about your country and share your results with a partner, practicing numbers as presented here:

1. How many people live in the three largest cities?
2. What is the height of the tallest mountain or point?
3. How much does airfare cost to fly from New York City to the closet airport to your hometown?
4. How many years ago was the oldest man-made structure built (e.g., temple, bridge, castle, wall, road, etc.)?
5. What is the total land area of the country in kilometers?
6. How many Internet users are there?
7. How many airports are there?
8. How much in US dollars did your country export in goods to other countries in a recent year?

1. There are thirteen (13) interesting museums throughout the country.
2. The bus fare to the capital is fifty (50) dollars.
3. This beautiful temple was constructed about four hundred fifty (450) years ago.
4. The airfare for the trip to Europe will cost about seven hundred and eighteen (718) dollars.
5. We drove about twelve hundred (1,200) miles on our trip.
6. She spent one thousand sixteen (1,016) dollars on souvenirs during her trip.
7. The mountain is approximately three thousand seventy (3,070) meters tall.
8. A total of thirty thousand two hundred and twelve people (30,212) visited the castle last year.
9. The population of this city was three hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred nineteen (314,819) two years ago.
10. Over two million four hundred and seventy thousand five hundred thirty (2,470,530) people live in the capital.