Irregular Verbs – English Grammar Exercises for A2
Morning Forgetfulness (You just arrived at school/work and are complaining to a friend about your terrible memory this morning).
Choose the best option (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence. Read the context carefully before making your choice.
1 Ugh, I am having a terrible morning! First of all, I ______ up late because my alarm didn’t go off.
(A) waked
(B) woke
(C) waken
2 I was in such a rush that I ______ out of bed and ran straight to the bathroom.
(A) getted
(B) gotten
(C) got
3 I wanted some caffeine, so I ______ a quick cup of coffee.
(A) made
(B) maked
(C) make
4 It was too hot, but I ______ it very fast anyway so I wouldn’t miss my bus.
(A) drunk
(B) drank
(C) drinked
5 I didn’t have time to cook, so I just ______ a cold piece of toast.
(A) ate
(B) eated
(C) eaten
6 Because I was panicking, I completely ______ to put my lunchbox in my backpack!
(A) forgetted
(B) forgotten
(C) forgot
7 And it gets worse! I ______ my house keys on the kitchen table.
(A) left
(B) leaved
(C) leave
8 I was so distracted that I ______ the wrong jacket from the closet.
(A) taked
(B) took
(C) tooken
9 I didn’t even check the weather, so I ______ a heavy sweater on a really hot day!
(A) weared
(B) worn
(C) wore
10 I locked the door and ______ as fast as I could to the bus station.
(A) runned
(B) ran
(C) run
11 When the bus arrived, I looked in my pocket and realized I ______ my bus pass at home too.
(A) leaved
(B) left
(C) leave
12 I had to use cash, so I ______ a completely new ticket from the driver.
(A) bought
(B) buyed
(C) buy
13 I ______ for the ticket with a large banknote, and the driver was very annoyed with me.
(A) payed
(B) pay
(C) paid
14 When I finally sat down, I looked in my bag. I ______ the wrong textbook to class today!
(A) brang
(B) brought
(C) bringed
15 I also realized I ______ my favorite pen somewhere on the street while I was running.
(A) lost
(B) losed
(C) loose
16 Instead of my homework folder, I ______ an old supermarket receipt in my bag.
(A) finded
(B) find
(C) found
17 When I saw the teacher, I ______ sorry for not having my assignment ready.
(A) sayed
(B) said
(C) say
18 I sat at my desk and ______ about how silly my morning was.
(A) thought
(B) thinked
(C) thank
19 As soon as the lesson started, I ______ I was going to have a difficult day.
(A) knowed
(B) knew
(C) known
20 Honestly, my memory is so bad today. I can’t believe I ______ to bring my laptop!
(A) forgot
(B) forgotted
(C) forget
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) woke
Why it’s correct: “Woke” is the V2 past simple form of “wake”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (C) is the V3 past participle, which cannot be used alone for past simple.
2 (C) got
Why it’s correct: “Got” is the V2 past simple form of “get”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (B) is the V3 past participle.
3 (A) made
Why it’s correct: “Made” is the V2 past simple form of “make”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (C) is the present simple V1 form.
4 (B) drank
Why it’s correct: “Drank” is the V2 past simple form of “drink”.
Error Analysis: (C) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (A) is the V3 past participle.
5 (A) ate
Why it’s correct: “Ate” is the V2 past simple form of “eat”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (C) is the V3 past participle.
6 (C) forgot
Why it’s correct: “Forgot” is the correct V2 form of “forget”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (forgetted does not exist). (B) is the V3 past participle, which requires a helper verb (have/had).
7 (A) left
Why it’s correct: “Left” is the correct V2 form of “leave”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (leaved does not exist). (C) is the present simple V1 form.
8 (B) took
Why it’s correct: “Took” is the correct V2 form of “take”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (taked). (C) is an incorrect, non-existent word (tooken).
9 (C) wore
Why it’s correct: “Wore” is the V2 past simple form of “wear”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (adding -ed). (B) is the V3 past participle.
10 (B) ran
Why it’s correct: “Ran” is the V2 past simple form of “run”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (runned). (C) is the present V1 (or past participle V3) form, which is incorrect here.
11 (B) left
Why it’s correct: “Left” is the V2 past simple form of “leave”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake. (C) is the present simple V1 form.
12 (A) bought
Why it’s correct: “Bought” is the V2 past simple form of “buy”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (buyed). (C) is the present simple V1 form.
13 (C) paid
Why it’s correct: “Paid” is the correct V2 form of “pay”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a spelling error (payed is usually only used in a specific nautical context regarding ropes, not money). (B) is the present simple V1 form.
14 (B) brought
Why it’s correct: “Brought” is the V2 past simple form of “bring”.
Error Analysis: (C) is a common mistake (bringed). (A) is incorrect grammar (brang is non-standard/dialectal).
15 (A) lost
Why it’s correct: “Lost” is the V2 past simple form of “lose”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (losed). (C) is a different word entirely (loose is an adjective meaning “not tight”).
16 (C) found
Why it’s correct: “Found” is the V2 past simple form of “find”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (finded). (B) is the present simple V1 form.
17 (B) said
Why it’s correct: “Said” is the V2 past simple form of “say”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a spelling error (sayed does not exist). (C) is the present simple V1 form.
18 (A) thought
Why it’s correct: “Thought” is the V2 past simple form of “think”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (thinked). (C) is incorrect (thank is a present tense verb meaning to express gratitude).
19 (B) knew
Why it’s correct: “Knew” is the V2 past simple form of “know”.
Error Analysis: (A) is a common mistake (knowed). (C) is the V3 past participle.
20 (A) forgot
Why it’s correct: “Forgot” is the V2 past simple form of “forget”.
Error Analysis: (B) is a common mistake (forgotted). (C) is the present simple V1 form.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- “Forget” vs. “Leave” (Meaning & Grammar):
- Forget (Forgot): Used when you fail to remember an action or a fact. Often used with a “to” verb. Example: I forgot to lock the door.
- Leave (Left): Used when you physically do not bring an item with you from a specific place. Example: I left my keys on the table. (You cannot say “I forgot my keys on the table” in standard English).
- V2 Forms: Neither verb takes “-ed”. It is always forgot and left for a past event.
- The “-ED” Trap:
When talking about your morning routine in the past, almost all the common action verbs are irregular. You must never add “-ed” to verbs like get, wake, eat, drink, take, make, run, or buy.
Wrong: I waked up, eated breakfast, and runned to the bus.
Right: I woke up, ate breakfast, and ran to the bus. - Spelling Irregularities:
Some verbs sound like they should follow the regular rule but have unique spellings in the past tense. For example, pay becomes paid (not payed), and say becomes said (not sayed). Memorizing these small spelling changes is crucial for A2 level writing.