Simple Past Tense – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Excuse for Absence/Lateness: “I’m Sorry I’m Late!”
You arrived late to class or work and need to explain what happened to your teacher or manager. Read the sentences and choose the correct option (A, B, or C) to complete your excuse.
1 “I am so sorry I am late. The traffic ______ terrible this morning.”
(A) am
(B) was
(C) were
2 “It ______ heavily when I left my house, so I waited inside.”
(A) raining
(B) rainned
(C) rained
3 “I ______ at the bus stop for twenty minutes, but no bus arrived.”
(A) waitted
(B) waited
(C) wait
4 “The streets ______ very crowded today because of the festival.”
(A) was
(B) are
(C) were
5 “My alarm clock ______ working this morning, so I overslept!”
(A) stoped
(B) stop
(C) stopped
6 “I ______ too slowly, so I didn’t catch the early train.”
(A) walkked
(B) walk
(C) walked
7 “I wanted to call you to say I was late, but my phone ______ work.”
(A) didn’t
(B) wasn’t
(C) don’t
8 “I ______ to start my car in the garage, but the engine was dead.”
(A) trid
(B) tried
(C) tryed
9 “The 8:00 AM train ______, so I had to wait for the next one.”
(A) didn’t arrived
(B) wasn’t arrive
(C) didn’t arrive
10 “______ the weather bad in your area this morning?”
(A) Did
(B) Were
(C) Was
11 “I ______ my keys inside the apartment and I couldn’t open the door.”
(A) lockked
(B) locked
(C) lock
12 “I ______ my brother to drive me here, but he was too busy.”
(A) ask
(B) askked
(C) asked
13 “There ______ a big accident on the main road, so no cars could move.”
(A) had
(B) were
(C) was
14 “______ you remember to set your alarm last night?”
(A) Did
(B) Were
(C) Was
15 “I’m sorry, I ______ the email about the new meeting time.”
(A) wasn’t check
(B) didn’t check
(C) didn’t checked
16 “The roads ______ safe because it rained a lot last night.”
(A) wasn’t
(B) didn’t
(C) weren’t
17 “I ______ to walk here because the bus was completely full.”
(A) decided
(B) decide
(C) decideed
18 “Why ______ you absent from the team meeting yesterday?”
(A) did
(B) were
(C) was
19 “The heavy storm ______ my flight by two hours.”
(A) delaid
(B) delayed
(C) delay
20 “I asked a person for directions, but he ______ me.”
(A) didn’t helped
(B) wasn’t help
(C) didn’t help
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) was
- Why it’s correct: “The traffic” is a singular, uncountable noun (it), so the past tense of “to be” is “was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option C is used for plural subjects.
2 (C) rained
- Why it’s correct: “Rain” is a regular verb. We simply add “-ed” to form the past tense.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is a spelling error (we do not double the ‘n’ here). Option A is the present participle (-ing), which cannot stand alone without a “to be” verb.
3 (B) waited
- Why it’s correct: “Wait” is a regular verb taking “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a spelling mistake (we do not double the ‘t’ because it’s preceded by two vowels, ‘a’ and ‘i’). Option C is the present tense.
4 (C) were
- Why it’s correct: “The streets” is a plural subject (they), so the past tense of “to be” is “were”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake (using singular “was” for a plural noun). Option B is the present tense.
5 (C) stopped
- Why it’s correct: “Stop” is a one-syllable verb ending in a single vowel + single consonant (o-p). You must double the final consonant before adding “-ed” (stopped).
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a basic spelling error. Option B is the present tense.
6 (C) walked
- Why it’s correct: “Walk” is a regular verb. We just add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a spelling mistake (never double the ‘k’). Option B is the present tense.
7 (A) didn’t
- Why it’s correct: “Work” is an action verb. To make a negative past simple sentence with an action verb, we use the auxiliary “didn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B incorrectly mixes the “to be” verb with an action verb. Option C is the present tense.
8 (B) tried
- Why it’s correct: For verbs ending in a consonant + “y” (try), we change the “y” to “i” and add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Options A and C are common spelling mistakes for this rule.
9 (C) didn’t arrive
- Why it’s correct: The negative form requires “didn’t” + the base form of the verb (arrive).
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a very common learner trap (using a double past marker: didn’t + arrived). Option B mixes “to be” with an action verb.
10 (C) Was
- Why it’s correct: “The weather” is a singular subject, and the question asks about a description (“bad”), so we use “Was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A “Did” requires an action verb. Option B is for plural subjects.
11 (B) locked
- Why it’s correct: “Lock” is a regular verb; simply add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a spelling error. Option C is the present tense.
12 (C) asked
- Why it’s correct: “Ask” is a regular verb taking “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option B is a spelling error (never double the ‘k’).
13 (C) was
- Why it’s correct: The structure “There is/are” becomes “There was/were” in the past. Because “a big accident” is singular, we use “There was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common translation mistake from other languages (saying “it had an accident” instead of “there was”). Option B is for plural nouns.
14 (A) Did
- Why it’s correct: “Remember” is an action verb. To form a past simple question, we use “Did” + subject + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Options B and C are forms of “to be”, which cannot be used to ask questions with action verbs.
15 (B) didn’t check
- Why it’s correct: We use “didn’t” + the base verb to form negative actions in the past.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A incorrectly uses “wasn’t” with an action verb. Option C makes the “double past” mistake (didn’t + checked).
16 (C) weren’t
- Why it’s correct: “The roads” is plural, and “safe” is an adjective describing a state, so we use “weren’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is for singular subjects. Option B is an auxiliary for action verbs, but there is no action verb here.
17 (A) decided
- Why it’s correct: “Decide” is a regular verb that already ends in “e”, so we simply add “-d”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is the present tense. Option C is a spelling error (adding “-ed” when there is already an “e”).
18 (B) were
- Why it’s correct: “Absent” is an adjective. The pronoun “you” always takes “were” in the past tense of “to be”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A “did” is incorrect because there is no action verb. Option C is for I/he/she/it.
19 (B) delayed
- Why it’s correct: “Delay” ends in a vowel + “y” (a-y). For these verbs, we simply add “-ed” without changing the “y”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a common mistake where learners over-apply the “change y to i” rule. Option C is the present tense.
20 (C) didn’t help
- Why it’s correct: Negative sentences use “didn’t” + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A has the double past error (didn’t + helped). Option B uses “wasn’t” incorrectly with an action verb.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Explaining with “To be” (was/were):
- Use was / wasn’t for singular nouns and I, He, She, It (e.g., The traffic was bad. I wasn’t late on purpose.).
- Use were / weren’t for plural nouns and You, We, They (e.g., The streets were crowded.).
- Rule: Never use “did/didn’t” with adjectives (safe, late, bad) or places.
- Explaining with Regular Verbs (-ed):
- Normal: add -ed (walk → walked).
- Ends in -e: add -d (decide → decided).
- Ends in Consonant + y: change y to i and add -ed (try → tried).
- Ends in Vowel + y: just add -ed (delay → delayed).
- Ends in 1 Vowel + 1 Consonant (short verbs): double the consonant (stop → stopped).
- The “Didn’t” Rule for Excuses:
- When explaining what failed to happen, use didn’t + Base Verb (e.g., I didn’t check the email.)
- Warning: Never add “-ed” after “didn’t”. (Never say: I didn’t checked).