Present Simple (am/is/are, Do/Does) – Grammar Exercises for A1
Grammar » Grammar Exercises for A1 » Simple Present Tense – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are texting your friend to tell them about a new superhero movie you just watched. You are summarizing the plot (the story) to show them why it is so exciting.
Read the text messages below and choose the best option (A, B, or C) to complete each blank.
[Chat: Movie Night 🍿]
You: Hey! I just watched “The Magic Ring”. It is so good!
1 The movie _____ about a young boy named Leo.
(A) is
(B) are
(C) am
2 He _____ a normal high school student.
(A) be
(B) are
(C) is
3 I _____ the story is very exciting and funny.
(A) think
(B) thinks
(C) am think
4 Leo _____ with his uncle in a small apartment.
(A) live
(B) lives
(C) is live
5 They _____ have a lot of money, but they are happy.
(A) doesn’t
(B) aren’t
(C) don’t
6 One day, Leo _____ a magic ring in the park.
(A) finds
(B) find
(C) is find
7 The ring _____ him special superpowers.
(A) give
(B) is give
(C) gives
8 But he _____ how to use the magic at first.
(A) don’t know
(B) doesn’t know
(C) doesn’t knows
9 Does the ring _____ him invisible? Yes, it does!
(A) makes
(B) make
(C) is make
10 His best friend, Mia, _____ him train every day.
(A) helps
(B) help
(C) does help
11 Mia _____ very smart and brave.
(A) do
(B) are
(C) is
12 Together, they _____ the bad guys in the city.
(A) fights
(B) fight
(C) are fight
13 The villain of the movie _____ to steal the ring.
(A) wants
(B) want
(C) is want
14 The villain is cruel. He _____ about the people in the city.
(A) isn’t care
(B) don’t care
(C) doesn’t care
15 Everyone in the city _____ scared of him.
(A) is
(B) are
(C) be
16 So, who _____ the day at the end of the movie?
(A) save
(B) saves
(C) do save
17 Does Leo defeat the villain? Yes, he _____!
(A) do
(B) is
(C) does
18 The two heroes never _____ up, even when it is hard.
(A) give
(B) gives
(C) are give
19 It is a great movie, and it _____ a lot of action scenes.
(A) haves
(B) has
(C) have
20 People _____ this movie because the ending is perfect. You should watch it!
(A) loves
(B) is love
(C) love
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 A
- Why it’s correct: “The movie” is a singular subject (it), so the “to be” verb is “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: B is for plural subjects. C is only for “I”.
2 C
- Why it’s correct: “He” requires the singular “to be” verb “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is the unconjugated base form. B is for we/you/they.
3 A
- Why it’s correct: The subject “I” takes the base form of the verb “think”.
- Why the others are wrong: B incorrectly adds the 3rd person “-s”. C structurally mixes the “to be” verb with an action verb.
4 B
- Why it’s correct: “Leo” is a singular subject (he), so we add “-s” to the action verb: “lives”.
- Why the others are wrong: A misses the “-s”. C mixes “is” with an action verb.
5 C
- Why it’s correct: “They” is a plural subject. The negative auxiliary for the action verb “have” is “don’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: A is for singular subjects (he/she/it). B “aren’t” cannot be used to negate an action verb.
6 A
- Why it’s correct: “Leo” (he) requires an “-s” on the action verb: “finds”.
- Why the others are wrong: B misses the “-s”. C mixes “is” with an action verb.
7 C
- Why it’s correct: “The ring” is a singular subject (it), so the verb “give” needs an “-s”: “gives”.
- Why the others are wrong: A lacks the “-s”. B is a structural error.
8 B
- Why it’s correct: “He” requires the negative auxiliary “doesn’t”. After “doesn’t”, the main verb “know” must stay in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: A is for plural subjects. C is a common mistake where the learner leaves the “-s” on the main verb even after using “doesn’t”.
9 B
- Why it’s correct: In a question starting with “Does”, the main action verb MUST be in its base form: “make”.
- Why the others are wrong: A incorrectly adds an “-s”. C mixes “is” with an action verb.
10 A
- Why it’s correct: “His best friend, Mia” is a singular subject (she). We add “-s” to the verb: “helps”.
- Why the others are wrong: B misses the “-s”. C uses “does help,” which is generally only used for strong emphasis, not for simple storytelling at the A1 level.
11 C
- Why it’s correct: “Mia” is singular (she), and “smart/brave” are adjectives. We use “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: A “do” cannot link a subject to an adjective. B is for plural subjects.
12 B
- Why it’s correct: “They” is a plural subject, so the action verb “fight” stays in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: A incorrectly adds an “-s”. C mixes “are” with an action verb.
13 A
- Why it’s correct: “The villain” is a singular subject (he/she), so we add “-s” to the verb: “wants”.
- Why the others are wrong: B lacks the “-s”. C structurally mixes “is” with an action verb.
14 C
- Why it’s correct: “He” requires the negative auxiliary “doesn’t” before the action verb “care”.
- Why the others are wrong: A “isn’t” cannot be used to negate an action verb. B “don’t” is for plural subjects.
15 A
- Why it’s correct: The pronoun “Everyone” is grammatically singular. With the adjective “scared”, we use “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: B “are” is a logic trap because “everyone” feels plural. C “be” is unconjugated.
16 B
- Why it’s correct: When “Who” asks about the subject of a sentence, we treat it as 3rd person singular. The verb gets an “-s”: “saves”.
- Why the others are wrong: A assumes “Who” is plural. C is grammatically unnatural for subject questions.
17 C
- Why it’s correct: Short answers match the auxiliary used in the question (“Does Leo…?”). The answer is “Yes, he does.”
- Why the others are wrong: A is for plurals. B is incorrect because the question didn’t ask “Is Leo…”.
18 A
- Why it’s correct: “The two heroes” is a plural subject (they). The verb “give” stays in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: B incorrectly adds an “-s” (a trap if the learner ignores “two” and only looks at “heroes” and thinks it’s singular). C mixes “are” with an action verb.
19 B
- Why it’s correct: “It” is a singular subject. The 3rd person singular form of “have” is the irregular verb “has”.
- Why the others are wrong: A “haves” is not a real word. C is for I/you/we/they.
20 C
- Why it’s correct: “People” is a plural noun (they), so the action verb “love” stays in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: A “loves” is a common mistake when learners treat “people” as singular. B mixes “is” with an action verb.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Movie Magic: When we summarize the plot of a movie, book, or joke, we use the Present Simple to make the story feel like it is happening right now. (e.g., He finds a ring. He fights the villain.)
- The “He/She/It” Rule: In stories, you will talk a lot about the main character (he/she) or an object (it). Always remember to add -s / -es to the action verbs (He lives, She helps, It has).
- The “Doesn’t” Rule: If the hero doesn’t do something, the verb that follows must be normal (base form). (He doesn’t know, NOT He doesn’t knows).
- “Who” is singular: When asking who did something in the story, treat “Who” like “He” or “She”. Add an -s to the verb! (Who saves the city? Who wants the ring?).