Fill in the blank in the following sentence with the most appropriate option given below:
There were _______ forty students at the lecture today.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → under
Complete sentence: There were under forty students at the lecture today. "There were under forty students" means the number of students was below forty.
| Option | Used to show | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) less | “Less” needs “than” before a number. “Less forty” is not English. With a countable noun like students, the standard form is “fewer than forty”. | We have less time than we thought. |
| (2) under (answer) | Before a number or an amount, under means fewer than or less than that number. | The tickets cost under two hundred rupees each. |
| (3) beneath | physically lower than something. It is not used with numbers. | The keys were beneath the newspaper. |
| (4) among | in the middle of a group. “Among forty students” would need a different sentence. | She sat among her friends. |