Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are reporting back to your boss or team leader about a meeting you had with an important client yesterday. You need to summarize who you met, what they said, and how the meeting went.
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete your report. Pay close attention to the past tense forms of verbs used for communication and interaction!
1 “Yesterday morning, I _____ Mr. Johnson at his office.”
(a) meeted
(b) met
(c) meet
2 “We _____ in the main conference room to discuss the contract.”
(a) sat
(b) sitted
(c) sit
3 “First, he _____ me about his company’s new project.”
(a) told
(b) telled
(c) tell
4 “I _____ that our team is very excited to work with him.”
(a) say
(b) sayed
(c) said
5 “We _____ for about an hour about the timeline.”
(a) speaked
(b) spoke
(c) speak
6 “Did you _____ the new designs he brought?” the boss asked.
(a) saw
(b) see
(c) seed
7 “Yes, I did. He _____ me a paper copy to show the team.”
(a) gived
(b) give
(c) gave
8 “I didn’t _____ about the budget changes until he mentioned them.”
(a) knew
(b) know
(c) knowed
9 “He _____ to the meeting with his marketing assistant.”
(a) came
(b) comed
(c) come
10 “I _____ that they want to sign the contract next week.”
(a) hear
(b) heared
(c) heard
11 “Did he _____ you exactly what day they want to sign?”
(a) told
(b) tell
(c) telled
12 “No, he didn’t _____ the exact date yet.”
(a) said
(b) say
(c) sayed
13 “After the meeting, we _____ to the lobby together.”
(a) goed
(b) go
(c) went
14 “I _____ a lot of notes during our conversation.”
(a) took
(b) taked
(c) take
15 “He _____ the building at exactly 11:30 AM.”
(a) leave
(b) left
(c) leaved
16 “When I got back to my desk, I _____ an email to summarize everything.”
(a) writed
(b) write
(c) wrote
17 “What did he _____ about our new price list?”
(a) thought
(b) think
(c) thinked
18 “He _____ it was very fair and reasonable!”
(a) thought
(b) thinked
(c) think
19 “I didn’t _____ to his assistant very much; she was just listening.”
(a) spoke
(b) speaked
(c) speak
20 “Overall, we _____ a very successful meeting.”
(a) had
(b) haved
(c) have
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) met
- Explanation: “Met” is the irregular past tense of “meet”. Option (a) is a common mistake (adding “-ed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
2 (a) sat
- Explanation: “Sat” is the irregular past tense of “sit”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“sitted”). Option (c) is the present tense.
3 (a) told
- Explanation: “Told” is the irregular past tense of “tell”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“telled”). Option (c) is the present tense.
4 (c) said
- Explanation: “Said” is the irregular past tense of “say”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (b) is a common spelling mistake (“sayed”).
5 (b) spoke
- Explanation: “Spoke” is the irregular past tense of “speak”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“speaked”). Option (c) is the present tense.
6 (b) see
- Explanation: In a question using the auxiliary “Did”, the main verb must be in its base form (“see”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“Did” + “saw”). Option (c) is an invalid word.
7 (c) gave
- Explanation: “Gave” is the irregular past tense of “give”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“gived”). Option (b) is the present tense.
8 (b) know
- Explanation: After the negative auxiliary “didn’t”, the main verb must return to its base form (“know”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t knew”). Option (c) is a common mistake (“knowed”).
9 (a) came
- Explanation: “Came” is the irregular past tense of “come”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“comed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
10 (c) heard
- Explanation: “Heard” is the irregular past tense of “hear”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (b) is a very common spelling and grammar mistake (“heared”).
11 (b) tell
- Explanation: The question uses “Did he…”, so the main verb must be the base form “tell”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“Did he told”). Option (c) is an invalid word.
12 (b) say
- Explanation: The sentence uses “didn’t”, requiring the base verb “say”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t said”). Option (c) is a common spelling error.
13 (c) went
- Explanation: “Went” is the irregular past tense of “go”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“goed”). Option (b) is the present tense.
14 (a) took
- Explanation: “Took” is the irregular past tense of “take” (as in “take notes”). Option (b) is a common mistake (“taked”). Option (c) is the present tense.
15 (b) left
- Explanation: “Left” is the irregular past tense of “leave”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (c) is a common mistake (“leaved”).
16 (c) wrote
- Explanation: “Wrote” is the irregular past tense of “write”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“writed”). Option (b) is the present tense.
17 (b) think
- Explanation: The question uses “did he…”, so the main verb goes back to the base form “think”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is an invalid word.
18 (a) thought
- Explanation: “Thought” is the irregular past tense of “think”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“thinked”). Option (c) is the present tense.
19 (c) speak
- Explanation: After “didn’t”, use the base form “speak”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t spoke”). Option (b) is an invalid word.
20 (a) had
- Explanation: “Had” is the irregular past tense of “have” (as in “have a meeting”). Option (b) is a common mistake (“haved”). Option (c) is the present tense.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Verbs of Interaction & Communication: When reporting what happened in a meeting or a conversation, you will use many irregular verbs. Never add “-ed” to these words! You must memorize their past forms:
- meet → met
- sit → sat
- tell → told
- say → said (Pronounced /sed/)
- speak → spoke
- hear → heard
- give → gave
- come → came
2 Say vs. Tell (A Common Trap): * Use told when you immediately mention who received the information: He told me about the project.
- Use said when you focus on what the information was (usually without immediately mentioning the listener): He said that the project is ready.
3 The “Did / Didn’t” Rule (The Golden Rule): Even with these verbs of communication, if you ask a question or make a negative sentence, you must use did or didn’t, and the main verb returns to its normal dictionary form (Base Form).
- Question: Did he tell you? (Not: Did he told you?)
- Negative: I didn’t speak to her. (Not: I didn’t spoke to her)