A selection of English ESL formation of past simple printables

Forming the Simple Past of regular verbs.



Explanation (handout) and a worksheet for students to complete.

Formation of the Simple Past

This is a Snakes and Ladders board game to learn the changing of verb in simple past tense. Teacher can use this board, a dice ang flash cards about the verbs in the simple past tense.

Past Simple Tense (Snakes and Ladders game)

Grammar drill or test. The material can be used for students of pre-intermediate or intermediate level to practise some general grammar issues: articles with geographical names, word formation of adjectives, the plural of nouns, prepositions, tenses (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Simple Passive, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Future Simple)

Article with geographical names/word formation/plurals/prepositions/tenses

This is simply a list of Modals and Past Modals grouped by definition.  This is very helpful worksheet for upper-int and advanced groups who are getting their modals and semi-modals mixed up, especially with modals whose definitions change when put in the past.  

Modal & Semi-Modal Verbs by Definition

There are 5 activities 1-put a tick next to the actions you can see at the park and match 2-complete with the past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in brackets 3-true or false 4-complete with "to infinitive" or "gerund"5-word formation

AT THE PARK

You can practice the Past Simple in the first stanza and Second Conditional in the rest of the song. It's easy to understand and also catchy. I am trying to fill up 

Die with a smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

This worksheet is about Disney's version of Hans Christian Andersen's short story The Little Match Girl. 



It focuses on vocabulary and writing, but there is also an exercise on the simple past tense.  

Disney's Little Match Girl

An exercise on the formation of questions in the past simple. There are thirty sentences so it may be a good idea to do half of the worksheet in one lesson and the other half in the following one (or to set it as homework).

QUESTIONS - PAST SIMPLE

Match each verb with its corresponding form in the Past tense then classify the verbs into regular and irregular in your notebook. Make a review of verbs. Require to write sentences using the vocabulary list. 

Simple past: Regular and Irregular Verbs

An Easter joke that I used to make a pretty complete 3-pages worksheet. First page is aimed to reading comprehension and past simple: put the verbs in past simple while reading, then a couple of comprehension activities, true/false and questions. I also introduced a short explanation about homophones. On the second page there are two exercises focused on verbs+prepositions from the text, and on the last page we find antonyms, synonyms and practice word formation (adverbs). I hope you like it! 



P.S. If you need some easier Easter fun, you can check the Easter jokes worksheets I uploaded few days ago :)

The Easter Bunny - funny reading, grammar, vocabulary

The worksheet repeats the rules of tense formation. Students must write down tenses, rules for tenses, simple present, simple past, present perfect, will future for all pronouns. The options to choose from are given below the charts. They can fill in with the help or you ask them to fold the hints away and then have them check themselves later.

A solution is provided, it is uploaded as w word file and can be edited if necessary.

Tense formation

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising the use of the past simple, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise. 

Grammar Meets Conversation: When was the last time...? (11) - Asking for Past Information  

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

13 Formation of past simple English ESL worksheets pdf & doc