Simple Past Tense – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Childhood Background: Where I Grew Up
You are telling a new friend about your childhood and where you grew up. Read the sentences and choose the correct option (A, B, or C) to complete them.
1 “I ______ born in a small village in the south of Italy.”
(A) am
(B) was
(C) were
2 “We ______ in a beautiful, old house near the river.”
(A) live
(B) livved
(C) lived
3 “My parents ______ both teachers at the local primary school.”
(A) were
(B) was
(C) are
4 “My hometown ______ very big, so everyone knew each other.”
(A) wasn’t
(B) weren’t
(C) isn’t
5 “After school, I always ______ my mother in the kitchen.”
(A) help
(B) helped
(C) helpd
6 “Where ______ you born?” – “I was born in Madrid.”
(A) did
(B) was
(C) were
7 “I ______ like the food in the school cafeteria at all.”
(A) wasn’t
(B) didn’t
(C) don’t
8 “I ______ hard every day because I wanted to be a doctor.”
(A) studied
(B) studyed
(C) study
9 “______ you walk to school every morning when you were little?”
(A) Were
(B) Did
(C) Do
10 “Was your childhood happy?” – “Yes, it ______.”
(A) was
(B) is
(C) did
11 “We always ______ talking immediately when the teacher walked into the classroom.”
(A) stopped
(B) stoped
(C) stop
12 “My older brothers ______ interested in sports; they preferred reading books.”
(A) weren’t
(B) didn’t
(C) wasn’t
13 “We ______ video games because we didn’t have a computer at home.”
(A) didn’t play
(B) didn’t played
(C) weren’t play
14 “My family ______ to move to the city when I was ten years old.”
(A) decide
(B) decided
(C) did decide
15 “What ______ your favourite game when you were a child?”
(A) did
(B) was
(C) were
16 “I ______ the piano every evening after dinner with my father.”
(A) played
(B) plaied
(C) play
17 “Why ______ your family move to a new town?”
(A) do
(B) was
(C) did
18 “I ______ a very shy child, so I ______ talk much to strangers.”
(A) was / didn’t
(B) was / wasn’t
(C) did / wasn’t
19 “______ a lot of parks near your old house?”
(A) Were there
(B) Was there
(C) Did there
20 “My father ______ a lot of heavy boxes when he worked at the local factory.”
(A) carryed
(B) carred
(C) carried
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) was
- Why it’s correct: “I” is a singular subject, so the past tense of “to be” is “was” (I was born…).
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake (using the present tense “am” for a past birth). Option C is a basic grammar error (wrong agreement for “I”).
2 (C) lived
- Why it’s correct: “Live” is a regular verb ending in “e”, so we just add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option B is a spelling error (doubling the “v” is incorrect).
3 (A) were
- Why it’s correct: “My parents” is a plural subject (they), so it takes the plural past form “were”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common mistake (using singular “was” for a plural noun). Option C is the present tense.
4 (A) wasn’t
- Why it’s correct: “My hometown” is a singular subject (it), so the negative past form is “wasn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is for plural subjects. Option C is a common mistake (using present tense to describe past states).
5 (B) helped
- Why it’s correct: “Help” is a regular verb; we add “-ed” to form the past tense.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense (common mistake of forgetting the past marker). Option C is a spelling error (missing the “e”).
6 (C) were
- Why it’s correct: The pronoun “you” always takes “were” in the past tense of “to be” (Where were you born?).
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a very common learner mistake (“you was”). Option A “did” is incorrect because “born” acts as an adjective here, not an action verb.
7 (B) didn’t
- Why it’s correct: To make a negative past simple sentence with an action verb (“like”), we use “didn’t” + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake (mixing the “to be” verb with an action verb). Option C is the present tense.
8 (A) studied
- Why it’s correct: For verbs ending in a consonant + “y” (study), we change the “y” to “i” and add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common spelling mistake. Option C is the present tense.
9 (B) Did
- Why it’s correct: “Walk” is an action verb. To form a past simple question, we use “Did” + subject + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake (using “to be” to ask a question about an action). Option C is the present tense.
10 (A) was
- Why it’s correct: In short answers, we match the auxiliary verb of the question. The question asks “Was…”, and the subject “it” takes “was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option C is a common mistake (answering a “to be” question with “did”). Option B is the present tense.
11 (A) stopped
- Why it’s correct: “Stop” is a one-syllable verb ending in one vowel and one consonant (o-p). We must double the final consonant before adding “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a basic spelling error. Option C is the present tense.
12 (A) weren’t
- Why it’s correct: “My brothers” is plural, and we are describing a state (“interested”), so we use “weren’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common mistake (using “didn’t” with adjectives instead of action verbs). Option C is for singular subjects.
13 (A) didn’t play
- Why it’s correct: The negative form requires “didn’t” + the base form of the verb (play).
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a very common mistake (using a double past marker: didn’t + played). Option C incorrectly mixes “to be” with an action verb.
14 (B) decided
- Why it’s correct: “Decide” ends in “e”, so we simply add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option C is grammatically awkward and incorrect for a basic affirmative statement at the A1 level.
15 (B) was
- Why it’s correct: The subject is “your favourite game” (singular), and we are asking about its identity/state, so we use “was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake (using “did” without a main action verb in the sentence). Option C is for plural subjects.
16 (A) played
- Why it’s correct: If a verb ends in a vowel + “y” (play), we simply add “-ed” without changing the “y”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common mistake (learners over-apply the “change y to i” rule, which only applies to consonant + y). Option C is present tense.
17 (C) did
- Why it’s correct: “Move” is an action verb. To ask a past question, we use the auxiliary “did”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common mistake (mixing “was” with an action verb). Option A is the present tense.
18 (A) was / didn’t
- Why it’s correct: The first blank describes a state (“a shy child”), requiring “was”. The second blank negates an action verb (“talk”), requiring “didn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B incorrectly uses “wasn’t” before the base verb “talk”. Option C incorrectly uses “did” for a state of being.
19 (A) Were there
- Why it’s correct: We are asking about the existence of something plural (“a lot of parks”), so we use “Were there…?”
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a common mistake (using singular “was” for plural nouns). Option C is grammatically invalid.
20 (C) carried
- Why it’s correct: “Carry” ends in a consonant + “y” (r-y). We must drop the “y”, change it to “i”, and add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common spelling mistake (forgetting to drop the y). Option B is a basic error (dropping the y but forgetting the i).
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Talking about birth:
- Always use the past tense of “to be”.
- I / He / She / It → was born.
- You / We / They → were born.
- State vs. Action:
- Use was/were for descriptions, feelings, or locations (e.g., I was shy. The house wasn’t big.). Never use “did” or “didn’t” here.
- Use did/didn’t for physical or mental actions (e.g., play, live, help).
- Regular Verb Spelling Rules (-ed):
- Normal verbs: add -ed (help → helped).
- Verbs ending in -e: add -d (live → lived).
- Verbs ending in Consonant + y: change y to i + -ed (study → studied).
- Verbs ending in Vowel + y: just add -ed (play → played).
- Short verbs ending in Vowel + Consonant: double the consonant + -ed (stop → stopped).
- The “Double Past” Mistake:
- In negative sentences and questions, “did/didn’t” already shows the past. The main verb must be in the base form. (Correct: I didn’t play. Incorrect: I didn’t played.).