Present Simple (am/is/are, Do/Does) – Grammar Exercises for A1
Grammar » Grammar Exercises for A1 » Simple Present Tense – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You and your friends are planning a weekend trip to the beach. You send a final message to the group chat to confirm the schedule, who is doing what, and the timings for the trip.
Read the message below and choose the best option (A, B, or C) to complete each blank.
Message in “Beach Trip 🌴” Group:
Hi guys! Here is the final plan for our weekend trip.
1 The weekend _____ finally here!
(A) am
(B) is
(C) are
2 We _____ all very excited about this beach trip.
(A) are
(B) is
(C) do
3 The drive to the beach _____ exactly two hours.
(A) is take
(B) take
(C) takes
4 I _____ the bus tickets ready on my phone.
(A) have
(B) has
(C) haves
5 The bus _____ from the main station at 8:00 a.m. sharp.
(A) leave
(B) is leave
(C) leaves
6 What time _____ we arrive at the hotel?
(A) does
(B) do
(C) are
7 The hotel check-in _____ at 2:00 p.m., so we have time to eat lunch first.
(A) is
(B) does
(C) are
8 Mark and Lisa _____ the snacks for the bus ride.
(A) brings
(B) bring
(C) are bring
9 _____ everyone agree with this morning schedule?
(A) Do
(B) Does
(C) Is
10 We _____ much free time on Saturday afternoon because we have a boat tour.
(A) don’t have
(B) doesn’t have
(C) aren’t have
11 The boat tour _____ at 3:00 p.m. Please don’t be late!
(A) start
(B) is start
(C) starts
12 Does the hotel _____ a swimming pool?
(A) has
(B) have
(C) haves
13 No, it _____. But the beach is only a 5-minute walk away.
(A) doesn’t
(B) isn’t
(C) don’t
14 John _____ a car, so he takes the bus with us.
(A) don’t have
(B) doesn’t has
(C) doesn’t have
15 _____ everything ready for the barbecue party on Saturday night?
(A) Is
(B) Are
(C) Do
16 Who _____ the meat and vegetables for the barbecue?
(A) buy
(B) buys
(C) does buy
17 Sarah loves cooking, so she _____ the food preparation.
(A) does
(B) do
(C) is do
18 On Sunday, we _____ back to the city after lunch.
(A) travel usually
(B) usually travel
(C) are usually travel
19 _____ the weather forecast look good for this weekend?
(A) Is
(B) Do
(C) Does
20 We _____ to miss the sunset, so we go to the beach at 5:30 p.m. every evening!
(A) don’t want
(B) doesn’t want
(C) aren’t want
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 B
- Why it’s correct: “The weekend” is a singular subject (it), requiring the “to be” verb “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is only for “I”. C is for plural subjects.
2 A
- Why it’s correct: The subject is “We” (plural), and “excited” is an adjective, so we use the “to be” verb “are”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is for singular subjects. C “do” cannot link a subject to an adjective.
3 C
- Why it’s correct: “The drive” is a singular subject (it). For action verbs in 3rd person singular, we add “-s” → “takes”.
- Why the others are wrong: B misses the “-s”. A is a structural error mixing “to be” with a base verb.
4 A
- Why it’s correct: The subject “I” takes the base form “have”.
- Why the others are wrong: B “has” is for he/she/it. C “haves” is grammatically incorrect.
5 C
- Why it’s correct: “The bus” is a singular subject (it), so the verb needs an “-s” → “leaves”.
- Why the others are wrong: A lacks the “-s”. B incorrectly combines “is” with an action verb.
6 B
- Why it’s correct: The subject is “we” (plural) and the main verb is “arrive”. We use the auxiliary “do”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is for singular subjects. C “are” cannot be used with the action verb “arrive”.
7 A
- Why it’s correct: “The hotel check-in” is a noun phrase acting as a singular event (it). We use “is” to state its time.
- Why the others are wrong: B “does” requires an action verb (like start). C is for plural subjects.
8 B
- Why it’s correct: “Mark and Lisa” equals “they” (plural). The verb “bring” stays in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: A is a common mistake when students only look at “Lisa” and add an “-s”. C mixes “are” with a base verb.
9 B
- Why it’s correct: “Everyone” is grammatically singular (like he/she/it). To ask a question with the action verb “agree”, we use “Does”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is a common trap because “everyone” feels plural. C “Is” cannot be used with the action verb “agree”.
10 A
- Why it’s correct: “We” is plural, so the negative auxiliary for the verb “have” is “don’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is for singular subjects. C incorrectly mixes the “to be” verb with “have”.
11 C
- Why it’s correct: “The boat tour” is a singular event (it), so we add “-s” to the verb → “starts”.
- Why the others are wrong: A misses the “-s”. B is a structural error.
12 B
- Why it’s correct: In a question starting with “Does”, the main verb MUST return to its base form, which is “have”.
- Why the others are wrong: A “has” is a common trap; students see “hotel” (singular) and want to use “has”, forgetting that “Does” already handles the 3rd person rule. C does not exist.
13 A
- Why it’s correct: Short answers match the auxiliary from the question (“Does the hotel…?”). The negative is “doesn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is incorrect because the question didn’t ask “Is the hotel…”. C is for plural subjects.
14 C
- Why it’s correct: “John” (he) takes “doesn’t” + the base verb “have”.
- Why the others are wrong: B “doesn’t has” is a very common mistake where the student fails to reset the verb to its base form after using “doesn’t”. A is for plural subjects.
15 A
- Why it’s correct: “Everything” is a singular pronoun (it), and “ready” is an adjective. We use “Is”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is a trap because “everything” sounds plural in meaning. C “Do” cannot be used with an adjective.
16 B
- Why it’s correct: When “Who” is the subject of a sentence, we treat it as singular (he/she), so we add “-s” → “buys”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is a common mistake when learners assume “Who” refers to multiple people. C is not natural for a subject question in the Present Simple.
17 A
- Why it’s correct: “She” requires the 3rd person singular form of “do”, which is “does” (acting as the main verb here: she does the preparation).
- Why the others are wrong: B is for I/you/we/they. C mixes “is” with “do”.
18 B
- Why it’s correct: Adverbs of frequency (usually) are placed before the main action verb (travel).
- Why the others are wrong: A has the wrong word order. C mixes “are” with an action verb.
19 C
- Why it’s correct: “The weather forecast” is a singular subject (it), and “look” is an action verb. We use the auxiliary “Does”.
- Why the others are wrong: A “Is” is a trap. While we say “Is the weather good?”, here we have the verb “look”, which requires “Does”. B is for plural subjects.
20 A
- Why it’s correct: “We” is plural, so we use “don’t” to negate the action verb “want”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is for singular subjects. C mixes the “to be” verb with an action verb.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Fixed Schedules: We use the Present Simple to talk about itineraries, even for the future! (e.g., The bus leaves at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow). This makes the plan sound 100% fixed and certain.
- The “Does/Doesn’t” Reset: Whenever you use does or doesn’t (for he, she, it), the main verb goes back to normal. (John doesn’t have, NOT John doesn’t has).
- Tricky Pronouns: Words like Everyone, Everything, Who are always treated as singular (like he/she/it). Always use is, does, has, or add an -s to the verb.
- Look vs. Be: We say “Is the weather good?” (using “to be” with an adjective). But if we use the verb “look”, we must use do/does: “Does the weather look good?“