Exercises and Explanation: 1 English Verb Form

The section Exercises and explanation: 1 English Verb Form focuses on the forms of different tenses, demonstrating how they appear in affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences. The exercises offer numerous opportunities for practicing these forms.

Simple Present (go/goes) Simple Past (went)
Present Perfect (has/have gone) Past Perfect (had gone)
Present Continuous (am/is/are going) Past Continuous (was/were going)
Present Perfect Continuous (has/have been going) Past Perfect Continuous (had been going)
   
Gebiedende wijs (Go – Don’t go) List of irregular verbs

Exercises and Explanation: 2 or More English verb forms

The section Exercises with 2 or more English verb forms aims to clarify when a verb form should be used through contrastive exercises. English verb forms not only anchor actions in time (present, past, or future) but also define their nature, such as whether the action is completed and/or in progress.

Contrastive Exercises

These exercises require a choice between two verb forms, aiding in identifying the appropriate context for each.

Simple Present – Present Continuous/Progressive
(He goes – He is going)
Simple Past – Past Continuous/Progressive
(He went – He was going)
Simple Past – Present Perfect
(He went – He has gone)
Simple Past – Past Perfect
(He went – He had gone)
Present Perfect – Present Perfect Continuous
(He has gone – He has been going)
Past Perfect – Past Perfect Continuous
(He had gone – He had been going)
Present Continuous en de Present Perfect Continuous
(I am going – I have been going)
List of irregular verbs

Mix of Tenses

Ideally, foreign language learners attain a flawless command of all English verb forms in writing and speaking. To assess your overall proficiency, try using a mix of tenses.

Irregular Verbs

To practise your irregular verbs (go-went-gone), visit the page with exercises dedicated to irregular verbs.

If you need to refresh your memory, check out this extensive list of irregular verbs.

Exercises with Auxiliaries and Modal Verbs

English differentiates between auxiliaries and modal verbs. Auxiliary verbs (to be, to have, to do) combine with present participle or past participles or infinitive to create verb forms for ordinary verbs. Modal verbs combine with infinitives to express ability, probability, necessity, permission, obligation, deduction etc.

For a thorough grasp of when to use the various auxiliary verbs, it’s advisable to visit the pages modal mix and modalities (see below). On the remaining pages, you’ll find exercises primarily focused on practicing the form of the auxiliary verb or addressing common issues, such as tag questions and short yes/no answers.

am-is-are  
was-were can, could, to be able to
has-have-had will, won’t, shall, shan’t
to have to will, would, shall, should
short yes/no answers modal mix
tag-questions (He hasn’t gone, has he?) modalities: ability, permission, deduction and probability, necessity and obligation, request

Exercises and explanation: the future

There is more than one way of expressing the future in English. The pages below deal with most of these future forms. Each page offers information about the form and usage of these forms. In the contrastive exercises, you’ll need to make a choice between two future verb forms, helping you to identify the appropriate context for each.

1 Future Simple (I will go)
2 Present Continuous (I am working tomorrow)
3 Be going to (I’m going to buy a smartphone)
4 Future Continuous (I will be going)
5 Future Perfect (I will have gone)
6 Future Perfect Continuous (I will have been going)
7 Future mix

Exercises and explanation: the passive

The passive voice is commonly employed in formal English and academic language, particularly when it does not matter who performs the action. On the pages below, you can practise distinguishing between active and passive voice, the forms of the various tenses and special passive constructions.

Recognizing the active and passive voice
Simple Present Passive (The house is built.)
Simple Past Passive (The house was built.)
Continuous Passive (The house is/was being built.)
Perfect Passive (The house has/had been built.)
Future en Modal Passive (The house will be built. / The house may have been built.)
Passive mix
Double Object passive (direct object and indirect object) (He gave her a present. She was given a present. A present was given to her)
Personal Passive (She is known to have built a house.)
List of irregular verbs

Exercises with various grammatical subjects

Quantifiers, numbers and time

Nouns and everything

Pronouns

Sentences

Miscellaneous