Simple Past Tense – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Sharing a Past Mistake: “Why I Failed the Test”
You just got your English test back, and the score is very low. You are talking to your desk-mate about the mistakes you made last night and what you didn’t do. Read the sentences and choose the correct option (A, B, or C) to complete the conversation.
1 “I ______ very sad when I saw my test score this morning.”
(A) am
(B) was
(C) were
2 “I only ______ at my textbook for ten minutes last night.”
(A) looked
(B) look
(C) lookked
3 “The questions on the test ______ easy at all!”
(A) didn’t
(B) wasn’t
(C) weren’t
4 “I got a bad grade because I ______ my grammar homework last weekend.”
(A) didn’t finished
(B) didn’t finish
(C) wasn’t finish
5 “I ______ to memorize the new vocabulary, but I fell asleep.”
(A) trid
(B) tryed
(C) tried
6 “______ you study for the test last night, or did you sleep early too?”
(A) Did
(B) Were
(C) Was
7 “I wanted to ask the teacher for help yesterday, but she ______ in her office.”
(A) didn’t
(B) wasn’t
(C) weren’t
8 “I was tired, so I ______ the lesson before the exam.”
(A) wasn’t review
(B) didn’t reviewed
(C) didn’t review
9 “Instead of studying, I ______ video games with my brother for three hours.”
(A) play
(B) played
(C) plaied
10 “______ the reading section difficult for you too?”
(A) Was
(B) Did
(C) Were
11 “Did you remember the spelling rules?” – “No, I ______.”
(A) wasn’t
(B) didn’t
(C) don’t
12 “I finally ______ chatting with my friends at midnight. It was too late!”
(A) stoped
(B) stopped
(C) stop
13 “I made a big mistake. I ______ to the teacher’s instructions carefully.”
(A) didn’t listen
(B) didn’t listened
(C) wasn’t listen
14 “I ______ to go to bed early, but I watched a movie instead.”
(A) decide
(B) decideed
(C) decided
15 “There ______ a lot of new words on the test that I didn’t know.”
(A) was
(B) did
(C) were
16 “I ______ sick yesterday evening, so I ______ my notes.”
(A) was / didn’t check
(B) was / wasn’t check
(C) did / didn’t check
17 “I ______ to answer the last question, but the time was up.”
(A) hurryed
(B) hurried
(C) hurrid
18 “Because I ______ my notebook, I couldn’t remember the formulas.”
(A) didn’t opened
(B) wasn’t open
(C) didn’t open
19 “I completely ______ the exam was tomorrow, not today!”
(A) believed
(B) believe
(C) belived
20 “I ______ to pass this test, but I ______ hard enough.”
(A) wanted / wasn’t work
(B) wanted / didn’t work
(C) want / didn’t work
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) was
- Why it’s correct: “I” is a singular subject, and “sad” is an adjective describing a past feeling, so we use “was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option C is used for plural subjects.
2 (A) looked
- Why it’s correct: “Look” is a regular verb. We simply add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is the present tense. Option C is a spelling mistake (never double the ‘k’).
3 (C) weren’t
- Why it’s correct: “The questions” is a plural subject (they), and “easy” is an adjective. The negative plural past of “to be” is “weren’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A requires an action verb. Option B is for singular subjects.
4 (B) didn’t finish
- Why it’s correct: To say you failed to do an action, use “didn’t” + the base form of the verb (“finish”).
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the common “double past” mistake (didn’t + finished). Option C incorrectly mixes “wasn’t” with a base action verb.
5 (C) tried
- Why it’s correct: “Try” ends in a consonant + “y”. We drop the “y”, change it to “i”, and add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Options A and B are common spelling mistakes for this rule.
6 (A) Did
- Why it’s correct: “Study” is an action verb. To ask a past simple question with an action verb, we use “Did”.
- Why the others are wrong: Options B and C are forms of “to be”, which cannot be used to ask questions with action verbs.
7 (B) wasn’t
- Why it’s correct: The speaker is describing the teacher’s location (“in her office”). “The teacher” (she) is a singular subject, so we use “wasn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A “didn’t” requires an action verb. Option C is for plural subjects.
8 (C) didn’t review
- Why it’s correct: Negative actions use “didn’t” + the base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is the “double past” mistake (didn’t + reviewed). Option A mixes “wasn’t” with an action verb.
9 (B) played
- Why it’s correct: “Play” ends in a vowel + “y” (a-y). For these verbs, simply add “-ed” without changing the “y”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option C is a common mistake (applying the “change y to i” rule incorrectly).
10 (A) Was
- Why it’s correct: “The reading section” is a singular subject, and the question asks about an adjective (“difficult”). Therefore, we use “Was”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B requires an action verb. Option C is for plural subjects.
11 (B) didn’t
- Why it’s correct: The question uses “Did you remember…?”, so the short negative answer must match the auxiliary: “No, I didn’t.”
- Why the others are wrong: Option A uses “wasn’t”, which doesn’t match the question. Option C is the present tense.
12 (B) stopped
- Why it’s correct: “Stop” ends in a single vowel + single consonant (o-p). Double the “p” before adding “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is a basic spelling error. Option C is the present tense.
13 (A) didn’t listen
- Why it’s correct: Negative actions in the past use “didn’t” + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B makes the double past mistake (didn’t + listened). Option C incorrectly uses “wasn’t” with an action verb.
14 (C) decided
- Why it’s correct: “Decide” already ends in “e”, so we simply add “-d”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is the present tense. Option B is a spelling error (adding “-ed” when there is already an “e”).
15 (C) were
- Why it’s correct: “A lot of new words” is a plural noun phrase, so we use “There were”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A is used for singular nouns (“There was a word”). Option B is grammatically incorrect in the “There is/are” structure.
16 (A) was / didn’t check
- Why it’s correct: The first blank describes a state (“sick”), requiring “was”. The second blank is a negative action (“check”), requiring “didn’t check”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B incorrectly uses “wasn’t check”. Option C incorrectly uses “did” for a state of being.
17 (B) hurried
- Why it’s correct: “Hurry” ends in a consonant + “y” (r-y). Change “y” to “i” and add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: Options A and C are spelling mistakes.
18 (C) didn’t open
- Why it’s correct: Negative actions use “didn’t” + base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: Option A has the double past error (didn’t + opened). Option B uses “wasn’t” incorrectly.
19 (A) believed
- Why it’s correct: “Believe” ends in “e”, so we just add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: Option B is the present tense. Option C is a spelling error (missing the second ‘e’).
20 (B) wanted / didn’t work
- Why it’s correct: The first blank is a past intention (“wanted”). The second blank describes an action the student failed to do (“didn’t work”).
- Why the others are wrong: Option A incorrectly uses “wasn’t” with an action verb. Option C uses the present tense for the first blank.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Admitting what you didn’t do:
- When you want to explain the cause of a mistake by saying you failed to do something, always use didn’t + Base Verb (e.g., I didn’t study. I didn’t listen.).
- The Biggest Mistake to Avoid: Never put the main verb in the past tense if you already used “didn’t”. (Never say: I didn’t studied.). “Didn’t” already carries the past tense!
- Describing how you felt or where you were:
- Use was / were (or wasn’t / weren’t) for feelings, descriptions, or locations (e.g., I was sad. The test wasn’t easy. I wasn’t at school.).
- Never use “did/didn’t” with adjectives or locations.
- Regular Verb Spelling Recap:
- Look → looked (+ed)
- Decide → decided (+d)
- Try → tried (y → ied)
- Play → played (vowel + y = +ed)
- Stop → stopped (double consonant)