Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are communicating with colleagues and teachers to confirm that you have received important documents, emails, or announcements, and to update them on your progress in reading and processing that information.
Choose the best answer (a, b, or c) to fill in the blanks. Pay close attention to how these common irregular verbs are conjugated in the Past Simple tense.
1 “Thank you for your message. I _____ your email yesterday afternoon.”
(a) got
(b) getted
(c) get
2 “I _____ the report last night. It looks very good!”
(a) readed
(b) read
(c) reading
3 “_____ you read the document I sent you?”
(a) Did
(b) Were
(c) Do
4 “Yes, I did. You _____ it to me on Monday, right?”
(a) sent
(b) sended
(c) send
5 “I looked in my spam folder, and I _____ the file there.”
(a) find
(b) found
(c) finded
6 “I was busy this morning, so I didn’t _____ the attachment yet.”
(a) readed
(b) read
(c) reading
7 “The teacher _____ us a new vocabulary list yesterday.”
(a) gave
(b) gived
(c) give
8 “I didn’t _____ the pictures in your email. Can you send them again?”
(a) saw
(b) seed
(c) see
9 “I _____ a short reply to the manager an hour ago.”
(a) wrote
(b) writed
(c) write
10 “What time did the letter _____ at the office?”
(a) came
(b) come
(c) comed
11 “My colleague _____ me about the meeting tomorrow. I will be there.”
(a) told
(b) telled
(c) tell
12 “I am sorry, I _____ to print the document for you.”
(a) forget
(b) forgot
(c) forgetted
13 “Did you _____ the notes from the morning lecture?”
(a) got
(b) get
(c) getted
14 “Yes, Mary _____ them on my desk before she went home.”
(a) left
(b) leaved
(c) leave
15 “I _____ the instructions in the email. They are very clear.”
(a) understand
(b) understood
(c) understanded
16 “We didn’t _____ the invitation link to the online class.”
(a) got
(b) get
(c) gotten
17 “I _____ the news on the company website this morning.”
(a) hear
(b) heared
(c) heard
18 “Oh no, I _____ the wrong file to the boss!”
(a) sent
(b) sended
(c) send
19 “_____ you find the information you needed for the project?”
(a) Did
(b) Do
(c) Were
20 “It _____ me two hours to read all those pages.”
(a) take
(b) taked
(c) took
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a) got
- Explanation: “Got” is the irregular past tense of “get”. Option (b) is a common mistake where learners try to apply the regular “-ed” rule. Option (c) is the present tense, which does not fit the past time marker “yesterday”.
2 (b) read
- Explanation: The verb “read” keeps the exact same spelling in the past tense, but the pronunciation changes (it is pronounced /rɛd/ like the color red). Option (a) is a common mistake adding “-ed”. Option (c) is grammatically incorrect because it lacks the “to be” verb (was/were) needed for a continuous form.
3 (a) Did
- Explanation: To form a Yes/No question in the Past Simple, we use the auxiliary verb “Did”. Option (b) uses the “to be” verb “Were”, which is incorrect when there is a main action verb like “read”. Option (c) is the present tense auxiliary.
4 (a) sent
- Explanation: “Sent” is the irregular past tense of “send”. Option (b) is a common mistake adding “-ed”. Option (c) is the present tense, which does not match “on Monday” in the past.
5 (b) found
- Explanation: “Found” is the irregular past tense of “find”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (c) is a common mistake applying the regular “-ed” rule.
6 (b) read
- Explanation: After the negative auxiliary “didn’t”, the main verb must return to its base form (“read”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is an incorrect verb form for this structure.
7 (a) gave
- Explanation: “Gave” is the irregular past form of “give”. Option (b) is a common mistake adding “-ed”. Option (c) is the present tense.
8 (c) see
- Explanation: In a negative sentence using “didn’t”, the main verb must remain in its base form (“see”). Option (a) is a common double-past mistake (“didn’t” + “saw”). Option (b) is an invalid word in this context.
9 (a) wrote
- Explanation: “Wrote” is the irregular past tense of “write”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“writed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
10 (b) come
- Explanation: The question already contains the auxiliary “did”, so the main verb must be in its base form (“come”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“did” + “came”). Option (c) is an invalid word form.
11 (a) told
- Explanation: “Told” is the irregular past tense of “tell”. Option (b) is a common mistake adding “-ed” (“telled”). Option (c) is the present simple tense.
12 (b) forgot
- Explanation: “Forgot” is the irregular past form of “forget”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (c) is a common mistake adding “-ed”.
13 (b) get
- Explanation: The question uses the auxiliary “Did”, requiring the main verb to be in its base form “get”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“Did” + “got”). Option (c) is an invalid word form.
14 (a) left
- Explanation: “Left” is the irregular past tense of “leave”. Option (b) is a common mistake adding “-ed” (“leaved”). Option (c) is the present tense.
15 (b) understood
- Explanation: “Understood” is the irregular past tense of “understand”. Option (a) is the present tense. Option (c) is a common mistake treating it as a regular verb (“understanded”).
16 (b) get
- Explanation: Similar to questions 6 and 8, after “didn’t”, the verb returns to its base form “get”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is the past participle, which is not used in the Past Simple.
17 (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”).
18 (a) sent
- Explanation: An affirmative action in the past requires the irregular form “sent”. Option (b) is a mistake using the regular rule (“sended”). Option (c) is the present tense.
19 (a) Did
- Explanation: The auxiliary “Did” is needed for a Past Simple question with an action verb. Option (b) is present tense. Option (c) is grammatically incorrect as it uses the “to be” verb (“Were”) alongside the main verb “find”.
20 (c) took
- Explanation: “Took” is the irregular past tense of “take” (used here to express how much time an action required). Option (a) is the present tense. Option (b) is a common mistake adding “-ed”.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Irregular Information-Processing Verbs: When reporting that you received, read, or sent emails/documents in the past, never add “-ed” to these verbs. You must memorize these irregular forms:
- get → got
- read → read (Spelled the same, but pronounced /rɛd/ like the color)
- send → sent
- write → wrote
- hear → heard
- understand → understood
- find → found
2 The “Did” Rule (Auxiliary Verbs): In a workplace or classroom setting, when you state that you did not receive information (Negative) or ask if someone received it (Question), you must use the auxiliary “did” or “didn’t”.
- The Golden Rule: Once you use “did” or “didn’t” in a sentence, the main verb must immediately revert to its Base Form (Infinitive).
- Common Mistake: I didn’t got the email. → Correct: I didn’t get the email.
- Common Mistake: Did you saw the file? → Correct: Did you see the file?