Intermediate grammar exercise (A2 level): past simple questions
English grammar practice exercise, for pre-intermediate and intermediate level.
In this exercise you will practise forming questions in the past simple tense.
Exercise instructions
Put the words in brackets into the correct order to complete each of the following questions. All the questions are in the past simple.
Remember – you’re also practising your writing skills, so your spelling must be correct!
| Structure of past simple | ||
| positive | negative | question |
| I / you / he / she / it / we / they arrived. |
I / you / he / she / it / we / they didn’t arrive. |
Did I / you / he / she / it / we / they arrive? |
| Past simple questions – common mistakes | ||
| Common mistakes | Correct version | Why? |
| He worked in London? | Did he work in London? | We use the helping verb did (did + subject + verb) in past simple questions. |
| Worked he in London? | Did he work in London? | We use the helping verb did (did + subject + verb) in past simple questions. |
| Did he wrote a letter? | Did he write a letter? | The main verb (write) is used in the infinitive form in questions and negatives. |
| Did you were in London? | Were you in London? | When be is the main verb, we don’t use did. We invert the word order to were / was + subject. |