Exercise can mean physical activity or a specific movement.

The idea

Use exercise for activity in general and an exercise or exercises for individual movements.

Examples

  • Walking is good exercise.
  • They get exercise by cycling to work.
  • The coach showed us a new exercise.
  • These exercises strengthen the legs.
  • A little exercise helps me relax.
  • We repeated the exercise slowly.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic English voice on your device. Quality and availability vary; it does not assess pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not say an exercise when you mean physical activity in general.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the correct word. The walk gives us some ___. (exercise / exercises)

    Show answer or example answer

    exercise

    Exercise refers to activity in general.

  2. Choose the correct word. The trainer suggested three ___. (exercise / exercises)

    Show answer or example answer

    exercises

    Exercises counts the three movements.

  3. Choose the correct word. She demonstrated ___ exercise. (an / some)

    Show answer or example answer

    an

    An introduces one particular movement.

Use it today

Describe your activity and one movement.