The boy vomited a lot on the journey, doctor told us he suffered from …

Analyze the question: The sentence needs a word or phrase that names the illness a person gets from vomiting on a journey. The question tests the correct noun phrase (compound noun) and whether it is countable.

Explain the concept: In English, when a noun is used to describe another noun, it is usually in the singular form. This is called a noun adjunct (or attributive noun). Examples are car park, bus stop, birth certificate, and travel sickness.

The standard term for the condition is travel sickness, and it is the same as motion sickness. "Sickness" here is an uncountable noun, so it has no plural form.

Check each option:

• A. travel sickness: This is the standard, correct expression. ✔
• B. travelling sickness: This is not the standard collocation. People say "travel sickness" or "motion sickness."
• C. travel sicknesses: This is wrong because "sickness" is uncountable here. It also doesn't fit with "suffered from" for one boy's condition.
• D. traveller sickness: This is wrong because it would mean a sickness belonging to a traveller, which is not an established term.

Answer: The boy vomited a lot on the journey, so the doctor told us he suffered from travel sickness.

Tip: Remember the pattern of the common illness terms: travel sickness, sea sickness, air sickness, motion sickness. The first word is always singular and has no -ing or -er ending. In WASSCE lexis questions, choose the fixed expression you have actually seen used.