Business English- Simple Past of Common Verbs

Common Business English verbs Past Simple practice

Instructions for teachers

Cut up one complete set of cards per group of two to four students (with one verb per card), plus make one more copy per student (for reference and to check their answers with). Ask each group to work together to put the words into four groups by their Past Simple pronunciation. If they get stuck or think they have finished, tell them how many should be in each group, tell them what the four categories are and/ or explain why the different words have different pronunciations of “-ed”.

Give them uncut copies to check their answers with (as the words are already in the four groups). After answering any questions, ask them to take turns continuing a story related to business with verbs from the pack, e.g. Student A: “My company launched a new product last week.”, Student B: “Unfortunately, all the customers complained it gave off a strange smell”, etc.

 

Verbs to classify and use for storytelling/ Suggested answers

-ed pronounced /d/
Sign	Socialise	Staple	Supervise
Train	Travel	Use	Install
Offer	Organise	Phone	Receive
Repair	Save	Exchange	Explain
Agree	Apologise	Complain	Disagree

 

-ed pronounced /t/
Stamp	Thank	Type	Launch
Purchase	Discuss	Drop	Attach

 

 

-ed pronounced /id/
Waste	Invite	Negotiate	Present
Print	Provide	Reject	Request
Attend	Calculate	Decide	Download

 

Irregular Past Simple
Be	Begin	Cost	Cut
Deal	Do	Fall	Give
Grow	Have	Lead	Leave
Quit	Pay	Read	Rise
Sell	Send	Spend	Write