French language Q&A Forum

there's a question to fill the blank: mais ... m'a vraiment surpris. the answer is "ca", why can't it be "il"?

Could someone explain the subtleties of these three? 

I used 'environ' which was marked incorrect.

Each example of aux alentours de was paired with a 24-hour clock and vers with the 12-hour clock. Are they interchangeable?

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/tests/3091633

Mon rêve pour cette année (Le Conditionnel)

- the sentence to be translated is "the first flight that appeals to us!" 

- I put in "le premier vol qui nous plairions!", but the answer is marked incorrect, and the one given is "le premier vol qui nous plairait!" 

- The linked lesson is "Lesson: Conjugate regular verbs in Le Conditionnel Présent (conditional mood)" 

So I'm not sure what I've done wrong here? Thanks!

I was taught (in both English-taught French classes and by French-speaking people) that the use of 'on' for 'we' was very colloquial and borderline bad grammar. I was baffled by the construction of the sentence using 'we' in English. I'm annoyed to be classified as 'lower intermediate' when I am considerably more advanced than that, even if I'm out of practice. I need to practice, but won't get much if I'm getting questions at this level and being challenged only by a confusing usage.

In the test question with the magic beanstalks, the only accepted answer is Jack got off the magic bean stalk.

In three dictionaries that I have looked up (especially Le Robert & Collins), one of the meanings of decendre with etre is to 'climb down (a tree). Now the preposition 'from' is missing in those definitions but is that so significant a difference that the answer 'Jack climbed down the magic beanstalk" becomes incorrect.

Why can't a valid answer be "George bought four or so books at the market?" In English, a few could possibly mean "four or so." "Few" is a vaguely definable quantity in English -- does "quelques" mean something more specific in French,  or is this a matter of question/answer construction?