Present Simple vs. Past Simple – English Grammar Exercises for A1

1 (c) don’t

• The Key: Giving a direct command/advice right now (“Please… buy”) requires the imperative. The negative imperative is always “don’t + base verb”.
• Error Analysis: (a) didn’t (Common Mistake: Using past tense for a present command). (b) doesn’t (Strong Distractor: Wrong auxiliary for imperatives). (d) not (Structural Error).

2 (b) bought

• The Key: “Last year” is a specific past time. The irregular past tense of “buy” is “bought”.
• Error Analysis: (a) buy (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) buyed (Structural Error: Adding “-ed” to an irregular verb). (d) did buy (Strong Distractor).

3 (d) is

• The Key: You are stating a general fact about “that model” of phone that is still true today. “The battery” is singular, so it takes “is”.
• Error Analysis: (b) was (Common Mistake: Using past tense because the story is in the past, but the model still has a bad battery design today). (a) be (Structural Error). (c) are (Strong Distractor: Plural verb).

4 (a) stopped

• The Key: “After only two months” refers to the past event when the phone broke. “Stop” is a regular verb (stopped).
• Error Analysis: (b) stops / (c) stop (Common Mistakes: Present tense). (d) was stop (Structural Error: Mixing “to be” with a main verb).

5 (b) want

• The Key: “Today” and giving current advice means this is a present state. “I” takes the base verb “want”.
• Error Analysis: (a) wanted (Common Mistake: Past tense). (d) wants (Strong Distractor: Adding ‘s’ for “I”). (c) am want (Structural Error).

6 (c) Did

• The Key: Asking a yes/no question about a finished past action (“drop”) requires the past auxiliary “Did”.
• Error Analysis: (a) Do (Common Mistake: Present tense). (b) Was / (d) Were (Structural Errors: “to be” cannot be used with the base verb “drop”).

7 (d) last

• The Key: “Usually” indicates a general truth or habit. “Good phones” is plural, taking the base verb “last”.
• Error Analysis: (a) lasted (Common Mistake: Past tense). (b) lasts (Strong Distractor: Adding ‘s’ to a plural subject). (c) are last (Structural Error).

8 (a) didn’t like

• The Key: Referring to the past experience (“All my photos were blurry”). The negative past is “didn’t + base verb”.
• Error Analysis: (b) don’t like (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) didn’t liked (Structural Error: Double past marking). (d) wasn’t like (Strong Distractor).

9 (c) need

• The Key: Giving advice right now requires the Present Simple. “You” takes the base verb.
• Error Analysis: (a) needed (Common Mistake: Past tense). (d) needs (Strong Distractor: Wrong subject agreement). (b) are need (Structural Error).

10 (b) broke

• The Key: “Suddenly one day” is a past event. The irregular past of “break” is “broke”.
• Error Analysis: (a) break (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) breaked (Structural Error: Regularizing an irregular verb). (d) breaks (Strong Distractor).

11 (d) sits

• The Key: “Now” indicates a present state. “The broken phone” is singular (it), so the verb gets an ‘s’.
• Error Analysis: (a) sat (Common Mistake: Past tense). (b) sit (Strong Distractor: Missing the ‘s’ for a singular subject). (c) is sit (Structural Error).

12 (c) went

• The Key: “They said” indicates the story is in the past. The irregular past of “go” is “went”.
• Error Analysis: (a) go (Common Mistake: Present tense). (b) goed (Structural Error). (d) was go (Strong Distractor).

13 (a) doesn’t

• The Key: Stating a current fact about the phone’s design. “This model” is singular, so the negative is “doesn’t”.
• Error Analysis: (c) didn’t (Common Mistake: Past tense). (b) don’t (Strong Distractor: Wrong agreement for a singular subject). (d) isn’t (Structural Error: Cannot be used with the base verb “have”).

14 (b) was

• The Key: “When I called them” puts this in the past. “Customer service” is a singular noun, taking “was”.
• Error Analysis: (a) is (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) were (Strong Distractor: Plural past verb). (d) did (Structural Error).

15 (d) didn’t give

• The Key: “When I asked them” is in the past. Negative past is “didn’t + base verb”.
• Error Analysis: (a) don’t give (Common Mistake: Present tense). (b) didn’t gave (Structural Error: Double past). (c) weren’t give (Strong Distractor).

16 (c) works

• The Key: “Every single day” with a “new phone” is a present routine/fact. Singular subject takes an ‘s’.
• Error Analysis: (a) worked (Common Mistake: Past tense). (b) work (Strong Distractor: Missing the ‘s’). (d) is work (Structural Error).

17 (b) didn’t you buy

• The Key: “Back then” means in the past. The negative past question format is “Why didn’t + subject + base verb”.
• Error Analysis: (a) don’t you buy (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) you didn’t buy (Structural Error: Missing question inversion). (d) weren’t you buy (Strong Distractor).

18 (a) thought

• The Key: “Because of the ads, but I was wrong” shows this was a past belief. The past of “think” is “thought”.
• Error Analysis: (b) think (Common Mistake: Present tense). (d) thinked (Structural Error). (c) am think (Strong Distractor).

19 (d) costs

• The Key: The price of the phone is a general, current fact. “It” takes the present verb with ‘s’.
• Error Analysis: (b) cost (Common Mistake: Missing the ‘s’). (a) costed (Structural Error: “Cost” is irregular; its past is also “cost”, but here we need present tense anyway). (c) is cost (Strong Distractor).

20 (b) threw

• The Key: “In the end” describes the final past action. The past of “throw” is “threw”.
• Error Analysis: (a) throw (Common Mistake: Present tense). (c) throwed (Structural Error). (d) was throw (Strong Distractor).

1. The Persuasion Structure: When advising someone, you constantly switch between two modes:
• Present Simple (The Advice/Facts): Use this to give commands (Don’t buy it), state your current opinion (I want you to…), or state facts about the product (It doesn’t have memory, it costs too much).
• Past Simple (The Evidence): Use this to tell the story of what happened to you (I bought it, it broke, they didn’t give my money back).
2. Commands (Imperatives): To tell someone not to do something right now, ALWAYS use Don’t + base verb (e.g., Don’t buy). Never use Didn’t or Doesn’t for direct commands.
3. General Truths vs. Past Events: Be careful with facts that are still true. Even though you used the phone in the past, its design (battery, memory, price) is still the same today. That is why we say “The battery is bad” (Present) instead of “The battery was bad” (Past), unless you are only talking about that specific broken battery you threw away.
4. Irregular Verbs of Experience: Memorize the past forms of these action verbs: buy → bought, break → broke, go → went, think → thought, throw → threw.