Present Simple vs. Past Simple – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Talking to friends about where you grew up versus where you live and work now.
Choose the best answer (A, B, C, or D) to complete each sentence.
1 I ______ in London now, but I grew up in a small village.
(a) lives
(b) live
(c) lived
(d) living
2 When I was a child, my house ______ very small.
(a) had
(b) were
(c) is
(d) was
3 My parents still ______ in my old hometown.
(a) live
(b) lived
(c) lives
(d) living
4 Ten years ago, I ______ to school every day.
(a) walk
(b) walked
(c) was walk
(d) walkeds
5 Now, I ______ the bus to my office in the city.
(a) takes
(b) am take
(c) take
(d) took
6 We ______ a big garden at my old house, but my new apartment doesn’t have one.
(a) have
(b) haved
(c) was
(d) had
7 Every weekend, I ______ my friends in the city center.
(a) meet
(b) meeting
(c) met
(d) meets
8 I ______ the quiet life in the village when I was young, but now I love the noisy city.
(a) like
(b) liked
(c) did liked
(d) was like
9 ______ you like living in the city now?
(a) Are
(b) Did
(c) Do
(d) Does
10 Where ______ you live before you moved to New York?
(a) do
(b) did
(c) were
(d) was
11 My old bedroom ______ a nice view of the mountains.
(a) was
(b) has
(c) haved
(d) had
12 I ______ to work today because my apartment is very close to the office.
(a) walk
(b) walked
(c) walking
(d) am walk
13 When I lived in my hometown, there ______ many tall buildings.
(a) weren’t
(b) wasn’t
(c) aren’t
(d) didn’t
14 Now, there ______ supermarkets and cafes everywhere around me.
(a) have
(b) is
(c) were
(d) are
15 I ______ my hometown very often because the train ticket is too expensive.
(a) didn’t visit
(b) don’t visit
(c) doesn’t visit
(d) am not visit
16 We ______ much money when I was a kid, so we didn’t travel.
(a) don’t have
(b) hadn’t
(c) didn’t have
(d) wasn’t have
17 Life in the village ______ very quiet, but sometimes it was boring.
(a) was
(b) is
(c) did
(d) had
18 My friends usually ______ me at my new apartment on Fridays.
(a) visited
(b) visit
(c) visiting
(d) visits
19 I ______ a lot of friends in my old school, but now I only have a few close colleagues.
(a) have
(b) had
(c) haved
(d) did have
20 At my new job, the manager ______ us work late, unlike my old boss.
(a) didn’t make
(b) don’t make
(c) isn’t make
(d) doesn’t make
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Now” indicates a present state, so we use the Present Simple “live” for the pronoun “I”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “lives” is for he/she/it. (c) “lived” is past tense, contradicting “now”. (d) “living” is a gerund/participle and lacks the “am” to form the continuous tense.
2 (d)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “When I was a child” sets a past context. “House” is singular, so the past tense “to be” verb is “was”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “had” means possession, which doesn’t make sense with the adjective “small” here. (b) “were” is plural. (c) “is” is present tense.
3 (a)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Still” indicates an ongoing situation in the present. “My parents” is plural (they), taking the base verb “live”.
- Why others are wrong: (b) “lived” is past tense. (c) “lives” is for singular subjects. (d) “living” requires “are” to be grammatically correct.
4 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Ten years ago” requires the Past Simple. “Walk” is a regular verb, so we add “-ed”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “walk” is present. (c) “was walk” is structurally incorrect. (d) “walkeds” is a spelling/structural error (double plural/past marker).
5 (c)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Now” signals a present routine, taking the Present Simple “take” for the subject “I”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “takes” is for he/she/it. (b) “am take” is structurally wrong. (d) “took” is past tense.
6 (d)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “At my old house” implies a finished past situation, requiring the past form of “have”, which is “had”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “have” is present tense. (b) “haved” is an incorrect regular conjugation of an irregular verb. (c) “was” means “we existed as a garden”, which is semantically incorrect.
7 (a)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Every weekend” shows a current, repeating habit. We use Present Simple “meet” for “I”.
- Why others are wrong: (b) “meeting” is missing the verb “to be”. (c) “met” is past tense. (d) “meets” is for he/she/it.
8 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “When I was young” places the action entirely in the past, so we use the Past Simple “liked”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “like” is present. (c) “did liked” is a structural error (did + past verb is redundant). (d) “was like” is structurally wrong for this meaning.
9 (c)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: To ask a yes/no question in the Present Simple with “you”, we use the auxiliary verb “Do”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “Are” cannot be followed by a base verb (“like”). (b) “Did” asks about the past, but “now” is in the sentence. (d) “Does” is for he/she/it.
10 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Before you moved” indicates a past state, requiring the past auxiliary “did” to form the question.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “do” is present tense. (c) “were” cannot be followed by the base verb “live”. (d) “was” is for singular subjects and cannot take a base verb.
11 (d)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “My old bedroom” refers to the past. The past tense of “have” is “had”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “was” is grammatically okay, but it means the bedroom was a view, rather than possessing a view. (b) “has” is present tense. (c) “haved” is an incorrect irregular conjugation.
12 (a)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Today” and “is very close” imply a current truth or routine. The Present Simple is “walk”.
- Why others are wrong: (b) “walked” is past tense, clashing with “is very close”. (c) “walking” lacks the “am” auxiliary. (d) “am walk” is structurally incorrect.
13 (a)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “In my hometown” (where I grew up) is a past context. “Buildings” is plural, so the negative past “to be” is “weren’t”.
- Why others are wrong: (b) “wasn’t” is singular. (c) “aren’t” is present tense. (d) “didn’t” requires a base verb (like “have”).
14 (d)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Now” establishes the present. “Supermarkets and cafes” is a plural subject, requiring “are” with “there”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “have” cannot be used with “there” to indicate existence (a common translation mistake from other languages). (b) “is” is singular. (c) “were” is past tense.
15 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Very often” and “is” indicate a current habit. The negative Present Simple for “I” is “don’t visit”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “didn’t visit” is past tense. (c) “doesn’t visit” is for he/she/it. (d) “am not visit” is structurally wrong.
16 (c)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “When I was a kid” indicates a finished past action. To make a negative Past Simple sentence with “have”, we use “didn’t have”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “don’t have” is present tense. (b) “hadn’t” is mostly used as an auxiliary for Past Perfect, not as a main verb for possession in modern standard English. (d) “wasn’t have” is structurally incorrect.
17 (a)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: The second half of the sentence says “was boring”, establishing a past context. “Life” is singular, so we use “was”.
- Why others are wrong: (b) “is” is present tense. (c) “did” requires a base verb. (d) “had” requires an object (possession), not an adjective like “quiet”.
18 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “Usually” and “on Fridays” signify a present routine. “My friends” is plural, so the verb is “visit”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “visited” is past tense. (c) “visiting” lacks the auxiliary “are”. (d) “visits” is for a singular subject.
19 (b)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “In my old school” indicates the past, so the past tense of “have” is “had”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “have” is present tense. (c) “haved” is not a real word. (d) “did have” is emphatic and unnatural here; “had” is the standard choice.
20 (d)
Explanation:
- Why it’s correct: “At my new job” points to a present situation. “The manager” is a singular subject (he/she), so the negative Present Simple auxiliary is “doesn’t”.
- Why others are wrong: (a) “didn’t make” is past tense. (b) “don’t make” is for plural subjects or I/You. (c) “isn’t make” is structurally incorrect.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Time Words are your Clues: Words like now, today, usually, and every weekend signal the Present Simple (e.g., I live, she works). Words like when I was a child, ago, and last year signal the Past Simple (e.g., I lived, she worked).
- Irregular Past Verbs: Some verbs don’t end in -ed in the past. The most important ones to remember here are be (was/were) and have (had).
- Negative Sentences: In Present Simple, use don’t or doesn’t + base verb. In Past Simple, always use didn’t + base verb (e.g., I didn’t have, NOT I hadn’t).
- Asking Questions: Use Do/Does for the present and Did for the past, followed by the subject and the base verb (e.g., Where did you live?).