Regular -ed, irregular verbs, did/didn't and was/were
Practice the past simple: regular -ed verbs, spelling rules, irregular verbs (go→went, see→saw), negatives with didn't + base verb, questions with Did, was/were, and contrast with present perfect. 15 questions.
The past simple looks like the easiest tense in English — just add -ed — until the irregular verbs show up: go, see, have, make, take, come, none of which follow the rule, and all of which appear constantly in everyday speech.
The exam covers the regular -ed pattern with its spelling rules (stopped, planned, tried), the most common irregular verbs in context, negatives and questions built with did/didn't + base verb, was/were for "to be", and the key contrast with present perfect that decides which tense to use.
Practise the past simple, regular and irregular, in the exam below.
English · Primary, Secondary
go→went, see→saw, have→had, make→made, take→took, come→came. Each in a sentence context.
Short CVC verbs: double last consonant. stop→stopped, plan→planned.
Specific time → past simple. No specific time / relevance to present → present perfect.
"A student wrote "I goed to the park." After seeing go→went, they learned the pattern for the whole irregular group."
Tricks and techniques to master this topic faster:
Regular: verb + -ed. Ends in -e → just add -d. Consonant+y → -ied.
Negatives/questions: did/didn't + BASE verb. "Did you go?" NOT "Did you went?"
Was: I/he/she/it. Were: you/we/they.
Signal words: yesterday, last week, ago, in 2020.
If you are studying Past Simple — English Grammar Exam, these curriculum topics complement each other:
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