The simple past tense in English and a vocabulary exercise

Hello Students,

Without constant practice and review, my beginning and intermediate level students make a lot of mistakes with the simple past tense. When making the past tense, think about the differences between the simple form of the main verb and the other verbs that are used to form the past tense:

• I went to the store on Friday. (The main verb is in the past tense.)

• I didn't go to the store yesterday. (The helping verb "did" makes the questions and the main verb must be in the simple form.)

In this exercise, fill in the blanks for the helping verbs and the main verbs.The main verb is in parentheses. Some of the verbs are negative. Use contractions for negative verbs.

1. She ________ a good job. (do)

2. What _______ you ________ for dinner. (make)

3. We ________ shopping yesterday. (go)

4. They ________ a good time. (have)

5. The computer ________ ________. (work, negative)

6. ________ you _______ your cat? (find)

7. Yes, we ________ our cat. (find)

8. The store _________ open on Sunday. (be, negative)

9. I ________ a good movie last night. (see)

10.  He ________ ________ his homeowrk. (do, negative)

The answers are below.

+ There's a new vocabulary exercise. Click here to figure out which words rhyme with the word "map."

That's all for now.

 

Have a good day!

Your teacher,

Paul

PEACE!

 Answers:

1. did

2. did...make

3. went

4. had

5. didn't work

6. Did ... find

7. found

8. wasn't

9. saw

10. didn't do