English Grammar Exercises for A1 – Past simple affirmative: regular verbs

1. Write the past simple forms in the correct group.

chat      phone      plan      play      reply      smile      tidy      walk

add -ed

1) _____2) _____

add -d

3) _____4) _____

-y-ied

5) _____6) _____

double consonant and add -ed

7) _____8) _____

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add -ed     played, walked

add -d     phoned, smiled

-y ➞ -ied     replied, tidied

double consonant and add -ed     chatted, planned

2. Complete the sentences. Use the past simple form of the verbs in the box.

chat      cry      dance      invite      start      study      wash


1) I __________ twenty friends to party.

2) I __________ to friends at the café.

3) dad __________ German at school.

4) Harriet __________ at the end of the sad film.

5) Sam __________ with Emma at the night club.

6) George __________ his hair this morning.

7) Our English lesson __________ at 9.30.

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1) invited   2) chatted   3) studied   4) cried  5) danced

6) washed   7) started

3. Complete the story. Use the past simple form of the verbs in brackets.

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A police officer was in a park in the centre of the town. She 1) _____ (notice) a boy and girl with a baby elephant. The police officer was very surprised. ‘What are you doing with that elephant?’ she 2) _____ (ask). ‘You should take it to the zoo.’

‘OK,’ the boy and girl 3) _____ (agree), and they 4) _____ (hurry) off.

The next day, the police officer was in town again when the same boy and girl 5) _____ (appear). The elephant was still with them. The police officer was annoyed.

‘Hey!’ she called, ‘You 6) _____ (promise) to take that elephant to the zoo!’

‘Yes,’ 7) _____ (reply) the children, ‘we 8) _____ (visit) the zoo yesterday and the elephant 9) _____ (enjoy) it. So today we’re taking him to the museum.’

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1) noticed   2) asked   3) agreed   4) hurried   5) appeared

6) promised   7) replied   8) visited   9) enjoyed

4. Complete the time expressions with the words in the box.

afternoon      ago      before      last      month      years      yesterday


1) four years __________

2) _____ night

3) yesterday __________

4) two __________ ago

5) _____ morning

6) last __________

7) the day __________ yesterday.

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1) ago   2) last   3) afternoon   4) years   5) yesterday   6) month

7) before

5. Rewrite the sentences. Use the past simple and the time expressions in brackets.

1) I play volleyball at weekends. (last weekend)

     I played volleyball last weekend.

2) I cycle to school every day. (yesterday morning)

 ________.

3) I usually stay in on Sunday evenings. (last night)

 ________.

4) Andy sometimes tidies his bedroom on Sunday evenings. (on Saturday evening)

 ________.

5) The bus stops outside our house. (five minutes ago)

 ________.

6) I listen to the radio every morning. (yesterday afternoon)

 ________.

7) It always rains a lot in Scotland. (last month)

 ________.

8) School finishes at four o’clock. (half an hour ago)

     ________.

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2) I cycled to school yesterday morning.

3) I stayed in last night.

4) Andy tidied his bedroom on Saturday evening.

5) The bus stopped outside our house five minutes ago.

6) I listened to the radio yesterday afternoon.

7) It rained a lot in Scotland last month.

8) School finished half an hour ago.

Challenge!

Write five sentences. Use the past simple and five time expressions from exercises 4 and 5.

1) _____

  ________

2) _____

  ________

3) _____

  ________

4) _____

  ________

5) _____

     ________

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