ESOL Grammar Practice: Past Simple or Present Perfect?

Choose the time meaning before choosing the verb form. This ESOL past simple and present perfect practice helps you describe a finished past time, an experience up to now or a situation that still continues.

Read the short guide, try the 12 questions and then check the explanations. The examples are original practice, not official assessment questions or a test that assigns an ESOL level.

The difference is the time focus

The past simple places an event or state in a finished past period:

I started the course last September.

The present perfect looks back from now. It can describe experience up to now, a continuing state or a completed action with a result that matters now:

I have completed the form. It is ready to send.

Completing the form is a finished action in that second example. A finished action does not automatically require the past simple: the speaker is drawing attention to its present result.

The British Council's present perfect explanation shows how present connections differ from finished past-time references. Its perfect aspect reference explains the idea of looking back from the present.

Ask what your sentence needs to communicate

A word such as today does not choose the tense for you. “I saw her at nine today” identifies a finished occasion. “I haven't seen her today” looks at the period up to now.

Build the forms carefully

For the past simple:

• Positive: We checked the details.
• Negative: We did not check the details.
• Question: Did you check the details?

After did or did not, use the base form: Did she go? and She did not go.

For the present perfect:

• Positive: We have checked the details.
• Negative: We have not checked the details.
• Question: Have you checked the details?

Use have or has with a past participle. Some participles are regular, such as checked. Others differ: go–went–gone, ride–rode–ridden and write–wrote–written.

The British Council's past simple reference provides further guidance on past forms, questions and negatives.

Try 12 original questions

For questions 1–9, complete the sentence with the past simple or present perfect. Keep the time focus given in the context. Then explain your choice in a few words.

The answers use usual British-English choices for that focus. Questions 10–12 examine why context matters; the key also identifies suitable alternatives.

1. Last Friday, I ______ a new job. (start)
2. Amira still owns her old bicycle. She ______ it since 2020. (have)
3. You are asking about a relationship that still continues: “How long ______ you ______ your current teacher?” (know)
4. I ______ the message yesterday, so I missed the meeting. (not check)
5. Ask about someone's experience over their life up to now: “______ you ever ______ a horse?” (ride)
6. Ask about a particular completed visit in 2018: “When ______ you first ______ a horse?” (ride)
7. I ______ in a small flat while I was a student. That period is over; I live elsewhere now. (live)
8. We are still neighbours. We ______ next door to each other for two years. (live)
9. The exam was last month. She ______ it. (not pass)
10. The handle now works. Mina reports the result: “I've repaired the handle.” Omar asks, “When did you repair it?” Why do the speakers use different tenses?
11. Can both “I've called Sam” and “I called Sam” be suitable, or must one always be wrong? Explain the possible difference in focus.
12. Use the verb answer in both versions. A: It is 10 am and the morning is still continuing: “I ______ three emails so far this morning.” B: It is 8 pm and the morning is over: “I ______ three emails this morning.”

Answers with explanations

Questions 1–4

1. Started. Last Friday locates the start in a finished past period. The person may still have the job; that does not change the finished time of starting it.

2. Has had. Amira's ownership began earlier and still continues. Had alone would present the ownership as past and would not express the continuing situation specified here.

3. Have you known. The question asks about the duration of a continuing relationship. Did you know would look back at a past situation rather than keep this stated focus.

4. Did not check, or didn't check. Yesterday is a finished past period. Use the base form check after did not, rather than checked.

Questions 5–9

5. Have you ever ridden. The question looks at experience up to now. After have, the participle is ridden. Did you ever ride can be appropriate when asking about a finished period or opportunity, but that is not the focus specified in this question.

6. Did you first ride. The speaker is asking when the event happened during the completed 2018 visit. Use ride after did.

7. Lived. The sentence describes a finished period of living in that flat. It explicitly says that the speaker now lives elsewhere.

8. Have lived. The two-year period continues into the present. Have been living is also a natural way to express an ongoing situation, but this exercise compares the past simple with the present perfect simple.

9. Did not pass, or didn't pass. The sentence refers to the particular exam last month. It does not describe the person's experience of all exams up to now.

Questions 10–12

10. Mina reports a present result; Omar asks about the past occasion. The handle is repaired now, so I've repaired suits Mina's focus. When did you repair it asks when the completed repair happened. A conversation can naturally move from one focus to the other.

11. Both can be suitable. I've called Sam commonly presents the call as relevant to the current situation. I called Sam reports a completed call, perhaps with its occasion understood from the conversation. Without a particular context, it would be misleading to mark one automatically wrong. Different standard varieties of English can also favour different choices.

12. A: Have answered. B: Answered. At 10 am, so far this morning counts what has happened within a period still continuing. At 8 pm, this morning names a finished period. The contrast depends on the stated situation, not on memorising morning as a tense signal.

Repair a short conversation

These speakers are discussing a past visit. Correct the verb forms while keeping the meaning.

A: Have you ever visit a museum?
B: Yes, I have went last Sunday.
A: Have you enjoyed it last Sunday?
B: Yes, I did.

Try the repair before reading the example below.

A possible repair

A: Have you ever visited a museum?
B: Yes, I have. I went last Sunday.
A: Did you enjoy it?
B: Yes, I did.

The opening asks about experience up to now, so have is followed by visited.

The reply then identifies last Sunday, a finished occasion, and uses went. The follow-up asks about that same visit, so did you enjoy fits the conversation. “Did you enjoy it last Sunday?” is also suitable; the full time phrase is optional once the occasion is clear.

Make a truthful conversation of your own

Choose an activity you can comfortably discuss, such as visiting a town or trying a sport.

1. Ask about experience up to now: “Have you ever…?”
2. If the answer is yes, ask about one particular occasion: “When did you…?”
3. Ask one more question about that occasion.
4. Check whether the answer matches the question's time focus.

You can use a fictional character if you prefer privacy. Say that the details are invented for practice. You do not need to pretend to have done something in real life.

Continue practising in context

Try using this time contrast in our ESOL writing activities with model messages. For a broader set of skills, visit the Entry 3 practice guide, or choose a suitable activity from our ESOL resources guide. These links offer practice choices, not an exact qualification-level label for this grammar lesson.

Explore general learning activities through the official ESOL English app page. When you choose a suitable reading activity or video, notice how a speaker moves between an experience and a particular past occasion. A matching tense-specific app lesson or personal marking service is not promised.

Sources and further grammar help

• British Council: present perfect.
• British Council: past simple.
• British Council: perfect aspect.

All exercise sentences, questions, conversation examples and explanations above were created for this lesson. They are not copied from an official test.