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Keep practising irregular verbs....here's a game!

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Keep practising irregular verbs....here's a game!

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You can set this page as a homework task for a group of students; doing so will give you a record of who has completed the task. Visit the teacher's section for more information.

You can share this page by using the link below.

This game is for practicing past tense English verbs. It is intended to be used by ESL (English as a second language) students, to review past participles. The aim of this game is not to explain or communicate the concept of past tense, rather it is just to practice using past tense. The concept of past tense is difficult to illustrate visually and really is better explained by a teacher in a classroom. So, this game is really just intended as a tool to practice verbs and sentences in past tense. The language used is quite basic, but I think it covers almost all of the basic past tense verb forms (regular and irregular) and a few more difficult ones.

There are 3 different tasks in the game. In the first task, you simply have to drag the verbs to match present to past tense forms. The second task requires you to choose the correct word to complete the sentence. Finally, for the third task you have to reorder the phrase. This sequence repeats with different sets of content.

There is also a review screen in which you can see each verb with its past-participle and an image to convey the meaning.

The game uses a timer to give an element of challenge to the game. The timer can be turned of by clicking on the settings button in game.

There are 22 sets of content. Each set has 8 verbs, with a matching image and sentence to convey meaning and context. This gives a total of 176 items. These were selected from lists of basic verbs in English with a slight bias towards choosing irregular past tense forms; although, some verbs that were hard to represent visually were excluded. For example, it is quite difficult to draw an image to show the meaning of the verb 'decide'. I hope that almost all the basic verbs are covered here and that by mastering this game, students will have a comprehensive mastery of all the basic past tense forms.

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Practice past tense verbs online. This game is of ESL students to learn regular and irregular past tense verbs online for free. You look at the pictures and then click on the right verbs.

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Old Friends

Richard remembers some old friends after looking at a photo.

Now choose True or False for the following questions.

If the audio player above doesn't work, click here to download the audio file.

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Pre-Intermediate Listening Exercise - Old Friends

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Pre-Intermediate Listening Exercise. mp3 audio plus exercise: Old Friends. Richard remembers some old friends after looking at a photo.

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Exercises Explanation Downloads

Past continuous and past simple

Exercise 1

Choose the correct past continuous and past simple forms to complete the sentences below.

The past continuous - Form

The past continuous - Use

Actions in progress

We use the past continuous to talk about actions that were in progress (not finished) at a specific moment in the past.

'What were you doing at 9?' 'I was studying.'

The specific moment in the past can be described by a time expression (at 9 a.m., at midday, at lunchtime, all morning, all day, etc.):

Or by a simple past sentence:

Describing a scene

We often use the past continuous at the beginning of a story to describe the situation.

Past simple vs Past continuous

We use the past simple for completed actions in the past, and we use the past continuous for actions in progress (not finished) in the past.

The past continuous describes a longer action or situation and the past simple describes a shorter action or event.

When I met Susan she was having a drink at a terrace with a friend.

We didn't go out because it was raining.

The short action in past simple often interrupts the longer action in past continuous.

We use the past simple for completed actions that happened one after the other. Compare:

(The action of having a shower started before he arrived)

(The action of having a shower started after he arrived)

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Past continuous and past simple - Test-English

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Past continuous and past simple. We use the past continuous to talk about longer actions in progress at some point in the past, and we use past simple to talk about shorter finished actions in the past. English grammar and exercises.

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Oxford University Press, English Language Teaching - elt.enquiry@oup.com

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File 2 | English File | Oxford University Press

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Students >English File >Pre-intermediate third edition >Grammar >File 2

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Compare the past simple/past continuous (video)

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Compare the past simple/past continuous (video)

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Past simple and past continuous - 6 Minute Grammar

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The past progressive puts emphasis on the course of an action in the past.

Form

Exceptions in Spelling

Exceptions in spelling when adding ing

Example

final e is dropped (but: ee is not changed)

come - coming
(but: agree - agreeing)

after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled

sit - sitting

l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled (in British English)

travel - travelling

Use of Past Progressive

puts emphasis on the course of an action in the past
Example: He was playing football.

two actions happening at the same time (in the past)
Example: While she was preparing dinner, he was washing the dishes.

action going on at a certain time in the past
Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.

Signal Words of Past Progressive

Exercises on Past Progressive

Tests

Comparison with other Tenses

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Past Progressive (Past Continuous) - English Grammar

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Past Progressive (Past Continuous), short explanation and exercises

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The simple past expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times. It can also be used for actions taking place one after another or in the middle of another action.

Form of Simple Past

For irregular verbs, use the past form (see list of irregular verbs, 2nd column). For regular verbs, just add "ed".

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding 'ed'

Exceptions in spelling when adding ed

Example

final consonant after a short, stressed vowel
or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled

admit - admitted
travel - travelled

final y after a consonant becomes i

hurry - hurried

Use of Simple Past

action in the past taking place once, never or several times
Example: He visited his parents every weekend.

actions in the past taking place one after the other
Example: He came in, took off his coat and sat down.

action in the past taking place in the middle of another action
Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.

if sentences type II (If I talked, ...)
Example: If I had a lot of money, I would share it with you.

Signal Words of Simple Past

yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday

If-Satz Typ II (If I talked, ...)

Exercises on Simple Past

Tests

Grammar in Texts

Comparison with other Tenses

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Simple Past (Past Simple), short explanation and exercises

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Skip to main content

Raising standards through staff development and the provision of effective learning resources

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Skip to main content Raising standards through staff development and the provision of effective learning resources Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in rabbit_hole_menu_local_tasks_alter() (line 436 of /var/www/esol7/public_html/sites/all/modules/contrib/rabbit_hole/rabbit_hole.module).

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Oxford University Press, English Language Teaching - elt.enquiry@oup.com

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File 1 | English File Student's Site | Oxford University Press

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Students >English File Student's Site >Pre-intermediate third edition >Grammar >File 1

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Teachers | ENGLISH FOR SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

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Welcome to the new Excellence Gateway English for speakers of other languages exhibition site. This site brings together some of the most effective resources for ESOL available, including resources and activities from the British Council’s ESOL Nexus site, material created by the Education and Train…

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Present simple - Form

The spelling of he/she/it

The spelling of he/she/it is different in the present simple. Check how it changes below. The spelling is the same for all the other persons.

Present simple - Use

Habits or situations that happen regularly

We use the present simple for actions that we do (or we don't do) regularly:

Permanent situations or things that are usually or often true

Adverbs of frequency

We often use the present simple with adverbs of frequency ( always, sometimes, etc.) and expressions of frequency ( once every three months, twice a week, every other day, etc.).

Adverbs of frequency go in mid position (before the main verb or after be).

Expressions of frequency go at the end of the sentence

Present continuous - Form and spelling

Present continuous - Use

Actions in progress

We use the present continuous to talk about things that are happening now or 'around now' (a time around this moment, such as these days, weeks or months)

I finished the Lord of the Rings and now I'm reading a new book.

Temporary actions

The present continuous is used for temporary actions:

With expressions meaning 'now' or 'around now'.

The present continuous often appears next to expressions such as now, these days, this week/month, or at the moment.

Stative verbs

(or stative verbs) cannot be used in the present continuous. They must be used in the present simple. The most frequent are the verbs of the senses ( hear, see, smell, etc. ), verbs of opinion ( believe, consider, like, love, hate, prefer, think, etc.), and other verbs like be, have, need, want, etc.

Present simple vs present continuous

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Present simple vs present continuous - Test-English

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Present simple or present continuous. We use the present simple for habits and things that are always or usually true. We use the present continuous for things happening 'now'.

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family members - intermediate level exercises

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93 family members exercises. Family tree - intermediate level exercises. The family members songs, worksheets and handouts. Family members video and games

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Sports in the UK – A2 English listening test - Test-English

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Listening comprehension test for pre-intermediate students (CEFR A2). Watch a video about sports in the UK and answer the questions.

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Listen to the people introducing two different sports centres and do the exercises to practise and improve your listening skills.

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Vocabulary Review - free time activities

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Vocabulary Review - free time activities

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Play, go or do? Hobbies, sports and free time activities - exercises esl.

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Grammar - Present Simple & Adverbs of Frequency

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Grammar - Present Simple & Adverbs of Frequency

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Adverbs of frequency with present simple - Test-English

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Learn how to use adverbs if frequency with present simple. This is an English grammar lesson for beginners or elementary students (level A1 CEFR). In this lesson, you will find three English grammar exercises with answers. There is also a grammar explanation with grammar rules and grammar charts.

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Exercises Explanation Downloads

Present simple: I do, I don't, Do I?

Exercise 1

Choose the correct present simple forms to complete the following sentences.

Present simple form

In present simple verbs, we need to use the verb do/does in questions and don't/doesn't in negatives.

Spelling of he/she/it

The form is the same for all the other persons except he/she/it. The spelling for he/she/it is different.

Present simple use

Habits or actions that happen regularly

We use present simple for habits or actions that we repeat regularly:

Permanent situations or things that are always or often true

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Present simple: I do, I don't, Do I? - Test-English

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Learn how to use the present simple tense in this A1 Elementary grammar lesson. Clear rules, charts and exercises. Practise now!

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Interview with an English teacher - A2 English listening test - Test-English

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Listening comprehension test for pre-intermediate students (CEFR A2). Watch an interview with an English teacher and answer the questions.

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Word order in questions - Grammar chart

Questions in general

If we want to ask a question in English, the order is QWASM: Question word, Auxiliary verb, Subject, Main verb. In Yes-No questions (questions where the answer is yes or no), there is no Question Word.

Questions with be as the main verb

When be is the main verb, it is used as the Auxiliary in the question, and then we don't have a Main verb after the Subject.

Auxiliary verbs

In the position of Auxiliary, we can use be, do, have or any modal verb: can, could, will, would, should, etc.

Have is only an auxiliary verb in the form have got and in the present perfect.

For other uses of have, we need an auxiliary verb ( do, did) for questions.

Have got only has a present form. It does not have a past form.

Question words

how much

We can use how much to ask about the price of something.

how + adjective

We can use how + adjective (any adjective) as a question word.

We can use which + noun, and we can also use what + noun. We use which when there are a small number of possible answers. Look at the difference:

Which car do you like, the red or the blue? (there is a small number of possible answers)

'What car have you got?' 'A Mercedes.' (many possible answers)

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Asking questions in English - Question forms - Test-English

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Question forms. English grammar and exercises. If we want to ask a question in English, the order is QWASI: Question word, Auxiliary, Subject, Infinitive.

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Oxford University Press, English Language Teaching - elt.enquiry@oup.com

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File 1 | English File Student's Site | Oxford University Press

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Students >English File Student's Site >Pre-intermediate third edition >Grammar >File 1