Read these panicked text messages about a missing pet. Select ALL the sentences that correctly apply the present forms of the verb "to be".

The correct answers are I am freaking out right now!, My roommate's iguana is missing., and They are incredibly fast for reptiles!

I pairs with am.

My roommate's iguana (it) pairs with is.

They pairs with are.

The incorrect sentences should be "He is usually hiding" and "We are going to be".

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Be

The verb be is the most irregular and most-used verb in English. It has eight formsbe, am, is, are, being, was, were, been — more than any other English verb. It works as both a main verb (linking a subject to a complement: She is a doctor) and an auxiliary (forming the progressive tenses I am working and the passive voice It was written).

Almost every sentence you'll ever speak or write uses some form of be. Master its irregular forms early — am/is/are/was/were/been — and the rest of English grammar gets dramatically easier.

Present tense

The present tense in English has four forms: simple present (I work) for habits, general truths, and stative descriptions; present progressive (I am working) for actions happening right now or temporary situations; present perfect (I have worked) for past actions with present relevance; and present perfect progressive (I have been working) for ongoing actions continuing into the present.

The simple/progressive distinction is one of the trickiest jumps for learners — I work in Paris (habitual) and I'm working in Paris (temporary, right now) feel almost identical but signal different things. Pick wrong and your meaning subtly shifts.

English Grammar Basics

The English Grammar Basics tag marks quizzes and explainers covering the foundations of English grammar — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, tenses, voice, mood, and basic sentence structure.

If you're starting out or rebuilding from scratch, this is the tag to follow: every challenge under it is designed to land the core rules without burying you in exceptions. Get the basics solid here and the more advanced topics — conditionals, reported speech, inversion — stop looking like a wall of new rules and start looking like extensions of what you already know.

A1 | Elementary | Beginners

A1 is the starting level of the CEFR framework — the entry point into English. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, recognise common signs and instructions, and have short slow-paced conversations on very familiar topics.

Grammatically, A1 covers the building blocks: present-tense forms of be, have, and do; basic word order; simple questions; and the most common determiners, pronouns, and prepositions. Knowing your level matters — A1 material teaches the foundations every later level builds on, while a B1 textbook will overwhelm you. Start here and progress is fast.

Difficulty: Easy

The Easy difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at beginners — typically A1 or early A2 level. Expect single-rule focus, short sentences, common everyday vocabulary, and one clear correct answer. Distractors usually rule themselves out quickly.

Filter by Easy when you're rebuilding fundamentals, warming up before harder material, or testing whether you've truly internalised a basic rule before moving on. Easy doesn't mean trivial — it means the rule itself is unambiguous and the context doesn't pile on extra complications.