PRESENT SIMPLE - PAST SIMPLE

Exercise 1: Put the verb in brackets into the present simple or past simple

1. We _________ (go) to the beach last weekend.

2. My cousins _________ (not/ visit) us every weekend.

3. ___________ (your mum/ make) a chocolate yesterday?

4. I _______ (send) Jessica an email yesterday afternoon

5. The children always ______ (do) their homework yesterday afternoon.

6. Last year, I ___________ (travel) to Japan.

7. ___________ you ___________ (have) dinner last night?

8. He ___________ (arrive) from the airport at 8:00, ___________ (check) into the hotel at 9:00,
and met the others at 10:00.

9. I ___________ (receive) three messages two minutes ago.

10. She ___________ (work) at the movie theater after school.

11. Yesterday she ___________ (go) to the cinema and ___________ (watch) a horror movie.

12. Carlos always ___________ (eat) spaghetti but two days ago he ___________ (eat) soup.

13. We seldom ___________ (drink) alcohol during the forenoon.

14. Somebody ___________ (take) the flowers from the graves in the morning

15. When ___________ your grandpa ___________ (come) home after war?

16. Some girls ___________ (not/ read) the book yesterday

17. When ___________ (be) they in London the last time? - I think in 2002

18. Why ___________ you ___________ (help) your brother with the homework? - Because he
___________ (be) rather lazy all the time

19. My dog sometimes ___________ (catch) a mouse and ___________ (bring) it to the front
door.

20. I sometimes ____________ friends in the afternoon. (to meet)

21. ____________ in the shower? (he/often/to sing)

22. Lynn and Toby ____________ in Glasgow in 2018. (to be)

23. They ____________ T-shirts last Friday. (not/to buy)

24. She often ____________ to school. (to walk)

25. ____________ the desk an hour ago? (Nick/to repair)

26. She ____________ in the garden on Mondays. (not/to work)

27. ____________ coffee every day? (Victoria/to drink)

28. We ____________ our bikes on Sundays. (not/to ride)

29. Why ____________ hamburgers? (they/never/to eat)

Exercise 2: Choose the correct answer

1. Dad doesn’t buy/ didn’t buy a new car.

2. I don’t watch/ didn’t watch TV last night.

3. Do you like/ liked chips?

4. Mary leaves/ left for Italy last month.

5. Did John come/ came to the party?

Exercise 3: Put the verbs in the present simple or the past simple

1. A: ___________________ (you/ go) to work yesterday?

B: No, I __________. I ___________ (never/ work) on Saturdays.

2. A: _______________ (you/ see) Charles yesterday?

B: Yes. We ________ (have) lunch together.

3. A: ____________ (Colin/ work) at a bank?

B: No, he ____________. He __________ (work) at a post office

4. A: ____________ (you/ do) anything exciting last Sunday?

B: No, not really. I _____________ (watch) TV and _________________ (read) a book. It was a
boring weekend.

5. A: What __________ (you/do) at weekends?

B: We usually ___________(go) to the beach.

Exercise 4: Complete the sentences with the time expressions from the list

at the moment always yesterday

last night every week last summer

1. We watched a really good film at the cinema __________.

2. He is upset because he failed his driving test __________.

3. She ____________ brushes her teeth before she goes to bed at night.

4. I am working _____________ I can’t come with you.

5. My mother does the shopping _______________.

6. I went to a beautiful exotic island ____________. The weather was very hot.

Exercise 5: Choose the correct item

1. My grandmother _______ me a present yesterday.

A. buys B. bought C. doesn’t buy

2. Peter _______ basketball yesterday.

A. doesn’t play B. didn’t play C. plays

3. Tony always _______ his cousins on Fridays

A. visited B. didn’t visit C. visits

4. I _____ my bike in the park every weekend.

A. ride B. didn’t ride C. am riding

5. _____ they _____ to the beach last Saturday?

A. Did, goes B. Do, go C. Did, go

6. Who ______ penicillin?

A. discovers B. discovering C. discovered

7. I usually ______ a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

A. eat B. eats C. eating

8. Mum ______ very happy today.

A. was B. is C. are

Exercise 6: Put the verbs in brackets into the present simple or the past simple

1. Tommy Brown ________ (like) making up stories. No one ______ (believe) what he ______
(say) because he always _____ (tell) lies. He ________ (live) in a small village and _______
(work) on a farm just outside the village. One night last week, Tommy ______ (finish) work late.
It _________ (be) dark and cold. Suddenly, he _______ (hear) a strange noise, so he _________
(look) up. It __________ (be) a UFO bright flashing lights. The UFO ________ (come down)
towards him and he ________ (see) two green men looking him from outside. He ___________
(scream), ___________ (drop) his bag and ______________ (run away). When he
______________ (arrive) in the village, he ______________ (run) into some villagers and
______________(start) telling them about the aliens but they all ______________ (laugh) at him.
No one ______________ (believe) Tommy.

2. Steven’s friends _____________ (come) to his birthday party last night and _____________
(give) him wonderful presents. His parents _____________ (cook) a special dinner for him. His
girlfriend _____________ (promise) to come, but she _____________ (not be) there. He
_____________ (try) to phone but he couldn’t get through. He _____________ (be) really upset.
Only she _____________ (not wish) him a Happy Birthday.

Exercise 7: Put the verbs in brackets into the present simple or the past simple

Ling: Hi Amy. ___________ (1. you/ be) at home last weekend?

Amy: No, I ___________ (2. not/ be). My family and I ___________ (3. go) to the beach. We
often ___________ (4. go) to the beach at weekends.

Ling: You’re lucky. ___________ (5. you/ have) a nice time?

Amy: Oh, yes! I ___________ (6. have) a great time!

Ling: Where ___________ (7. you/ stay)?

Amy: We ___________ (8. stay) at my grandparents’ house

Ling: Oh. ___________ (9. they/ live) near the beach?

Amy: Yes, they do. Their house ___________(10. be) right by the beach.

Ling: Wow! That’s cool. And what did you do there?

Amy: We ___________ (11. walk) along the beach and ___________ (12. swim) in the sea.

Ling: That sounds like a lot of fun.

Exercise 8: Put the verb in brackets into the present simple or past simple

1. “Romeo and Juliet” ______________ (write) by Shakespeare

2. These pictures ________________ (take) during our last Christmas

3. All the reports ________________ (type) by secretary

4. The garbage ________________ (collect) every day.

5. The email ________________ (send) to you two hours ago.

6. When ________________ your mother ________________ (get up) in the morning?

7. I ________________ (not/ know) how to drive a car.

8. Tom always ________________ (eat) breakfast. Yesterday he ________________ (not to eat)

breakfast because he ________________ (get up) late.
9. He never ________________ (shout) at his students. He ________________ (be) a wonderful
teacher, I remember.

10. Who ________________ (ring) you up an hour ago?

11. I ________________ (have) dinner with my family yesterday.

12. She ________________ (know) all the works of Chopin. She ________________ (enjoy)
listening to his waltz last night.

13. Queen Elizabeth II ________________ (be) born in 1926. She ________________ (become)
Queen of England in 1952.

14. - ________________ you always ________________ (get up) at seven o’clock?

- No, sometimes I ________________ (get) up at half past seven.

15. Her friends ________________ (be) ready at five o’clock.

16. I ________________ coffee every morning. (drink)

17. He ________________ work at 7:30 yesterday. (leave)

18. The small cat ________________ with me last night. (sleep)

19. She ________________ her homework two days ago. (do)

20. They ________________ funny books every class. (read)

21. The girls always ________________ the guitar. (play)

22. We ________________ to Colombia last year. (go)

23. Yesterday it ________________ (be) a wonderful day because we ________________ (go) to

the mountains. We usually ________________ (go) to the beach but yesterday we
________________ (not)

24. My sister always ________________ (ride) a bike to go to school but today she
________________ (take) the bus because she ________________ (be) late.

25. I ________________ (not have) breakfast this morning because I ________________ (have)
a terrible stomachache but right now I ________________ (feel) much better.

26. My father ________________ (not work) in a hospital, he ________________ (work) in a

school. He ________________ (be) a teacher and last week he ________________ (have) a
spelling contest and all his students’ parents ________________ (be) invited and they
________________ (like) it so much.

Exercise 9: Fill the gaps with the verbs in brackets. Put them in the correct tense
I don’t usually ____________ (go) to the cinema but yesterday I ____________ (go) to see a
film. It ____________ (be) fantastic. I ____________ (cry) a little because the film
____________ (be) very romantic.

Mellisa ____________ (be) with me. She never ____________ (cry) at the cinema so she
____________ (not cry) yesterday but she also ____________ (enjoy) the film very much.

Now I ____________ (write) to my friend Peter to tell him about it. Peter usually ____________
(live) here in London, like me but this week he ____________ (live) in Bristol with her aunt
because his parents ____________ (be) in Italy. They ____________ (go) there last week on
business. Peter is one of my best friends. He ____________ (be) fourteen years old and we go to
the same school.

Last summer Melissa, Peter and I ____________ (go) to Amsterdam on holiday for a week. We
really ____________ (have) a nice time there. We ____________ (visit) lots of interesting places.
We ____________ (not stay) in a hotel. We ____________ (stay) at my uncle’s house. His name
is George. He ____________ (be) an engineer. He is always very busy but that week he
____________(be) on holidays and he ____________ (take) good care of us. He ____________
(show) us the city and we ____________(like) it very much. I must study now. I ____________
(learn) French this year as I would like to ____________ (visit) Paris next summer.

Exercise 10: Complete the sentences with correct forms of present simple or past simple

1. we / not / think she’s happy.

⇒ ________________________________

2, they / listen to Kpop every day?

⇒ ________________________________

3. he / not / read Kenh14.

⇒ ________________________________

4. what / you / do at home on the weekend?

⇒ ________________________________

5. she / easily catch a cold when it’s chilly outside.

⇒ ________________________________

6. we / have enough time?

⇒ ________________________________

7. David / not / read the newspaper.

⇒ ________________________________

8. how / he / travel to work?

⇒ ________________________________

9. She sometimes/ eat out/ on Sunday evenings.

⇒ ________________________________

10. the trains/ usually on time?

⇒ ________________________________

11. I/ go fishing/ yesterday.

⇒ ________________________________

12. My mother/ wash/ the dishes.

⇒ ________________________________

13. Trang/ go shopping/ with/ friends/ in/ park.

⇒ ________________________________

4. Phuong/ cook/ chicken noodles/ dinner.

⇒ ________________________________

15. Hung/ I/ study/ hard/ last weekend.

⇒ ________________________________

16. My father/ play/ golf/ yesterday.

⇒ ________________________________

17. Last night/ Ngoc/listen/ music/ for three hours.

⇒ ________________________________

18. We/ have/ nice/ weekend.

⇒ ________________________________

19. My aunt/ go/ supermarket yesterday.

⇒ ________________________________

20. They/ not go/ school last month.

⇒ ________________________________