Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are at school or in the office. Your teacher or boss is asking who completed a specific task, report, or project. You need to confidently state that you are the author or creator!
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence. Pay close attention to the irregular past tense forms of verbs used for creating and doing things.
1 “I _____ all the homework by myself yesterday,” the student said proudly.
(a) doed
(b) did
(c) do
2 “Wow, this report is excellent. Who _____ it?” the manager asked.
(a) wrote
(b) writed
(c) write
3 “I _____ a delicious chocolate cake for the team meeting.”
(a) make
(b) maked
(c) made
4 “Did you _____ this presentation alone, or did someone help you?”
(a) made
(b) make
(c) maked
5 “I promise I didn’t copy from the internet. I _____ it all myself!”
(a) write
(b) wrote
(c) writed
6 “We didn’t _____ the physical product; we only designed the software.”
(a) make
(b) made
(c) maked
7 “Who _____ this beautiful picture for the cover of the book?”
(a) draw
(b) drawed
(c) drew
8 “I _____ the research for this project last weekend.”
(a) did
(b) made
(c) do
9 “The boss was very happy because our team _____ a great job.”
(a) made
(b) did
(c) do
10 “I _____ the perfect solution to our problem after three hours of studying.”
(a) finded
(b) find
(c) found
11 “They didn’t _____ the new office desks; they bought them from a store.”
(a) built
(b) build
(c) builded
12 “I _____ of this great idea while I was walking to work.”
(a) thought
(b) thinked
(c) think
13 “_____ you write the summary at the end of the document?”
(a) Were
(b) Do
(c) Did
14 “I _____ a lot of hard work into this essay, Professor.”
(a) put
(b) putted
(c) puts
15 “Yes, Mr. Smith. I _____ the final email to the client on Tuesday.”
(a) sent
(b) sended
(c) send
16 “I didn’t _____ any spelling mistakes in the final document.”
(a) made
(b) make
(c) did
17 “My father is a carpenter, and he _____ this wooden chair with his own hands.”
(a) builded
(b) build
(c) built
18 “How much time did you _____ on this beautiful painting?”
(a) spent
(b) spended
(c) spend
19 “I _____ a detailed plan for the new sales campaign.”
(a) made
(b) make
(c) did
20 “I didn’t use a calculator. I _____ the math in my head.”
(a) did
(b) do
(c) made
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) did
- Explanation: “Did” is the irregular past tense of “do”. Option (a) is a common mistake (adding “-ed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
2 (a) wrote
- Explanation: “Wrote” is the irregular past tense of “write”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“writed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
3 (c) made
- Explanation: “Made” is the irregular past tense of “make”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (b) is a common mistake (“maked”).
4 (b) make
- Explanation: The question already uses the auxiliary “Did”, so the main verb must be in its base form (“make”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is an invalid word.
5 (b) wrote
- Explanation: Affirmative past tense requires the irregular form “wrote”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (c) is a common mistake (“writed”).
6 (a) make
- Explanation: After the negative auxiliary “didn’t”, the verb returns to its base form (“make”). Option (b) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t made”). Option (c) is an invalid word.
7 (c) drew
- Explanation: “Drew” is the irregular past tense of “draw”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (b) is a common mistake (“drawed”).
8 (a) did
- Explanation: In English, we use the phrase “do research”. In the past tense, it becomes “did research”. Option (b) uses the wrong verb (“make research” is incorrect). Option (c) is present tense.
9 (b) did
- Explanation: The common English expression is to “do a great job”. In the past tense, it is “did a great job”. Option (a) uses the wrong verb (“made a great job” is incorrect). Option (c) is present tense.
10 (c) found
- Explanation: “Found” is the irregular past tense of “find”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“finded”). Option (b) is the present tense.
11 (b) build
- Explanation: After “didn’t”, use the base form of the verb (“build”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t built”). Option (c) is an invalid word.
12 (a) thought
- Explanation: “Thought” is the irregular past tense of “think”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“thinked”). Option (c) is the present tense.
13 (c) Did
- Explanation: To ask a Yes/No question in the Past Simple, we use the auxiliary verb “Did”. Option (a) uses the “to be” verb (“Were”), which is incorrect with the action verb “write”. Option (b) is the present tense auxiliary.
14 (a) put
- Explanation: “Put” is an irregular verb that does not change its spelling in the past tense. Option (b) is a common mistake (“putted”). Option (c) is the present tense for third-person singular.
15 (a) sent
- Explanation: “Sent” is the irregular past tense of “send”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“sended”). Option (c) is the present tense.
16 (b) make
- Explanation: The English expression is to “make a mistake”. Because the sentence has “didn’t”, we use the base form “make”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) uses the wrong verb (“do a mistake” is incorrect).
17 (c) built
- Explanation: “Built” is the irregular past tense of “build”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“builded”). Option (b) is the present tense.
18 (c) spend
- Explanation: The question uses the auxiliary “did” (“did you…”), so the main verb must be in its base form (“spend”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“did you spent”). Option (b) is an invalid word.
19 (a) made
- Explanation: The correct English expression is to “make a plan” (create something new). In the past tense, it is “made a plan”. Option (b) is present tense. Option (c) uses the wrong verb (“did a plan” is incorrect).
20 (a) did
- Explanation: We use the verb “do” for calculations or tasks (e.g., “do the math”). In the past tense, it is “did the math”. Option (b) is present tense. Option (c) uses the wrong verb.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Verbs of Creation and Production: When you tell your boss or teacher that you created something, you must use irregular past tense verbs. Do not add “-ed” to these words!
- do → did (for tasks, work, research)
- make → made (for physical creations, plans, mistakes)
- write → wrote (for essays, emails, reports)
- draw → drew (for pictures, designs)
- build → built (for constructing things)
- think → thought (for ideas)
- find → found (for solutions)
2 Make vs. Do (A Common Trap!): Even in the past tense, you must choose the right verb for the job.
- Use did for tasks, duties, and actions: I did my homework. I did a great job. I did the research.
- Use made for creating or producing something new: I made a cake. I made a plan. I made a mistake.
3 The “Did” Rule (Still applies!): If your boss asks you a question, or if you deny doing something, you must use did or didn’t, and the main verb goes back to normal.
- Question: Did you write this? (Not: Did you wrote)
- Negative: I didn’t make that mistake. (Not: I didn’t made)