Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Read the sentences below. Imagine you arrive at school with a bandage on your arm. You are telling your friend the story of what happened to you yesterday. Choose the best word to fill in the blank.
1 “Hey! What happened to your arm?”
“Yesterday, I ______ a terrible accident in the park.”
(A) haved
(B) had
(C) has
2 “It was really bad. I ______ to the hospital with my parents.”
(A) went
(B) goed
(C) going
3 “We waited for a few minutes, and then we ______ the doctor.”
(A) seed
(B) seeing
(C) saw
4 “The doctor examined me and ______ an X-ray of my arm.”
(A) taked
(B) taking
(C) took
5 “After checking the X-ray, the nurse ______ me this big bandage.”
(A) giving
(B) gave
(C) gived
6 “How did it happen? Well, I was riding my bicycle very fast, and I ______ off.”
(A) falled
(B) fallen
(C) fell
7 “I hit the hard ground and ______ my left arm.”
(A) broke
(B) breaked
(C) broken
8 “There was glass on the road, so I also ______ my finger.”
(A) cutted
(B) cut
(C) cutting
9 “My knee ______ a lot when I tried to stand up.”
(A) hurting
(B) hurted
(C) hurt
10 “I didn’t wear a helmet, so I ______ my head on the pavement, too.”
(A) hit
(B) hitted
(C) hitting
11 “I ______ very dizzy and sick after the crash.”
(A) feeled
(B) felt
(C) feeling
12 “A nice woman saw the accident and ______ running to help me.”
(A) came
(B) comed
(C) coming
13 “She called my mother, and my mother ______ very worried.”
(A) getting
(B) got
(C) getted
14 “My mother ______ her office immediately to pick me up.”
(A) leaved
(B) leaving
(C) left
15 “At the hospital, the nurse ______ some special cream on my cuts to stop the bleeding.”
(A) put
(B) putted
(C) putting
16 “The hospital bill ______ a lot of money, but my parents’ insurance paid for it.”
(A) costed
(B) costs
(C) cost
17 “My mom ______ the doctor’s medical report carefully before we went home.”
(A) readed
(B) read
(C) reading
18 “When we got home, my mom ______ my dad the whole story.”
(A) told
(B) telled
(C) telling
19 “My dad was so scared that he ______ straight from work to check on me.”
(A) drived
(B) driven
(C) drove
20 “I am okay now, but I ______ my favorite watch during the crash. It fell off my wrist!”
(A) losed
(B) lost
(C) losing
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) had
- Why it is correct: “Had” is the irregular past tense of “have”.
- Error Analysis: (A) haved is a common mistake (adding -ed). (C) has is a basic grammar error (present tense, singular).
2 (A) went
- Why it is correct: “Went” is the completely irregular past tense of “go”.
- Error Analysis: (B) goed is a common mistake for beginners. (C) going is a structural error (needs the verb “to be” before it, and doesn’t fit the past simple narrative).
3 (C) saw
- Why it is correct: “Saw” is the irregular past tense of “see”.
- Error Analysis: (A) seed is a common mistake (overusing the -ed rule). (B) seeing is a structural error (present participle used without an auxiliary verb).
4 (C) took
- Why it is correct: “Took” is the irregular past tense of “take”.
- Error Analysis: (A) taked is a common mistake. (B) taking is a basic grammar error.
5 (B) gave
- Why it is correct: “Gave” is the irregular past tense of “give”.
- Error Analysis: (C) gived is a common mistake. (A) giving is a structural error.
6 (C) fell
- Why it is correct: “Fell” is the irregular past tense of “fall”.
- Error Analysis: (A) falled is a common mistake. (B) fallen is a structural error (this is the past participle, which needs “have/had” before it).
7 (A) broke
- Why it is correct: “Broke” is the irregular past tense of “break”.
- Error Analysis: (B) breaked is a common mistake. (C) broken is the past participle, not the past simple tense.
8 (B) cut
- Why it is correct: “Cut” is a special irregular verb. The past tense is exactly the same as the present tense.
- Error Analysis: (A) cutted is a very common mistake for A1 learners. (C) cutting is a structural error.
9 (C) hurt
- Why it is correct: Like “cut”, the past tense of “hurt” does not change. It remains “hurt”.
- Error Analysis: (B) hurted is a classic common mistake. (A) hurting is a structural error.
10 (A) hit
- Why it is correct: “Hit” is another “no-change” irregular verb. The past simple is “hit”.
- Error Analysis: (B) hitted is a common mistake. (C) hitting is a structural error.
11 (B) felt
- Why it is correct: “Felt” is the irregular past tense of “feel”.
- Error Analysis: (A) feeled is a common mistake. (C) feeling is a structural error.
12 (A) came
- Why it is correct: “Came” is the irregular past tense of “come”.
- Error Analysis: (B) comed is a common mistake. (C) coming is a structural error.
13 (B) got
- Why it is correct: “Got” is the irregular past tense of “get”.
- Error Analysis: (C) getted is a common mistake. (A) getting is a structural error.
14 (C) left
- Why it is correct: “Left” is the irregular past tense of “leave”.
- Error Analysis: (A) leaved is a common mistake. (B) leaving is a structural error.
15 (A) put
- Why it is correct: “Put” is an exception verb; it does not change its form in the past tense.
- Error Analysis: (B) putted is a very common mistake. (C) putting is a structural error.
16 (C) cost
- Why it is correct: “Cost” does not change its form in the past simple tense.
- Error Analysis: (A) costed is a common mistake. (B) costs is a basic error (present tense with an “s”, but the story is happening in the past).
17 (B) read
- Why it is correct: “Read” is a tricky exception. In the past tense, it is spelled exactly the same way (r-e-a-d), but it is pronounced like the color “red”.
- Error Analysis: (A) readed is a common mistake. (C) reading is a structural error.
18 (A) told
- Why it is correct: “Told” is the irregular past tense of “tell”.
- Error Analysis: (B) telled is a common mistake. (C) telling is a structural error.
19 (C) drove
- Why it is correct: “Drove” is the irregular past tense of “drive”.
- Error Analysis: (A) drived is a common mistake. (B) driven is a structural error (past participle).
20 (B) lost
- Why it is correct: “Lost” is the irregular past tense of “lose”.
- Error Analysis: (A) losed is a common mistake. (C) losing is a structural error.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
When you want to tell a story about a sudden event, an accident, or an injury, you will use Past Simple Irregular Verbs.
- The “No-ED” Rule: You cannot add “-ed” to these verbs. You must memorize their special forms. This makes your story sound natural and fast.
- Fall becomes fell.
- Break becomes broke.
- Lose becomes lost.
- The “Invisible Change” Verbs (Zero-change verbs): Some of the most common physical accident verbs do not change at all in the past tense! Be very careful never to add “-ed” to these:
- I cut my finger yesterday. (Not cutted)
- I hit my head. (Not hitted)
- It hurt a lot. (Not hurted)
- I put a bandage on it. (Not putted)
- The Spelling Trap: The verb read stays exactly the same in writing, but changes in speaking. Yesterday, you read (pronounced “red”) a book.