Be, Have and Have Got — English Grammar Exercises
I'm a student, I have two cats, I've got an idea — 45 exercises on be, have and have got.
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The verb "be" (am / is / are)
Use be for identity, jobs, age, feelings, and descriptions.
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| I | am |
| he / she / it | is |
| you / we / they | are |
✅ I am a student.
✅ She is a doctor.
✅ My parents are retired.
"have" and "have got" — possession
For possession, have and have got mean the same thing. Have got is more informal and very common in spoken British English.
✅ I have a car. = I have got a car. = I've got a car.
✅ She has a sister. = She has got a sister.
"have" for activities
For activities and experiences, use only have — never have got.
have breakfast, have a shower, have a meeting, have a rest, have a good time
✅ I have breakfast at eight.
❌ I have got breakfast at eight.
"be" vs "have" — feelings and states
Some states use be + adjective, others use have + noun.
| be + adjective | have + noun |
|---|---|
| be hungry, thirsty, tired | have a headache, a cold |
| be cold, hot, afraid, late | have a problem, an idea |
| be right, wrong, in a hurry | have fun, time, a rest |
✅ I am hungry. (not "I have hungry")
✅ I have a headache. (not "I am a headache")
Watch out: for age, English uses be — I am twenty years old, never "I have twenty years".
have vs have got — questions and negatives
Plain have and have got mean the same, but form questions and negatives differently — and you cannot mix them.
| have got | plain have | |
|---|---|---|
| Question | Have you got a car? | Do you have a car? |
| Negative | I haven't got a car. | I don't have a car. |
Watch out: have got has no past or future form. Use plain have: I had a car (not "had got"), I will have a car (not "will have got").
Subject–verb agreement
- everyone, everybody, nobody → singular: Everyone is here. Nobody was at home.
- the police, the staff, people → plural: The police are here. The staff are friendly.
- the news, information → singular: The news is good.
- trousers, jeans, glasses → plural: My jeans are wet.
- there is / there are matches the noun, and in a list the first item: There is a laptop and two books.
Common mistakes
| ❌ | ✅ |
|---|---|
| She have a cat. | She has a cat. |
| He are tired. | He is tired. |
| I have twenty years old. | I am twenty years old. |
| I am a headache. | I have a headache. |
| I have got lunch at one. | I have lunch at one. |
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There ___ a lot of milk in the fridge, so we don't need any.
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is
'Milk' is uncountable, so use 'There is' — even with 'a lot of'.
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There ___ too many people waiting in the queue.
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are
'People' is plural, so use 'There are'.
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The police ___ still looking for the two missing tourists.
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are
'The police' always takes a plural verb in English — 'the police are'.
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Everyone in our class ___ nervous before the final exam.
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is
'Everyone' is grammatically singular, so it takes 'is'.
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Ten years ago, my parents ___ a small house near the coast.
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had
For the past, use 'had'. 'Have got' has no past form — never 'had got'.
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You should ___ a proper rest — you've been working all day.
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have
After 'should', use the base form 'have'. 'Have a rest' is an activity, so 'have got' is impossible.
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Hurry up — we ___ late, and the train won't wait!
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are
'Late' is an adjective — use 'be': 'we are late'.
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She's staying in bed today because she ___ a bad cold.
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has
'A cold' is a noun — use 'have': 'she has a cold'.
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These trousers ___ too long — I'll need to take them up.
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are
'Trousers' is always plural in English, so it takes 'are'.
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I ___ quite nervous about giving the presentation tomorrow.
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am
'Nervous' is an adjective — use 'be': 'I am nervous'.
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The news ___ on television at nine o'clock every night.
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is
'News' looks plural but is an uncountable singular noun — 'the news is'.
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Our department ___ a team meeting every Friday morning.
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has
A regular activity uses 'have' (here 'has' for 'department') — not 'have got'.
Be, Have and Have Got: A Complete Grammar Reference
Be and have are the two most frequent verbs in English, and their overlapping uses — describing states, possession, and activities — create a cluster of small but persistent errors at B1–B2 level. Learners must decide between 'be' and 'have' depending on whether the following word is an adjective or a noun ('I am nervous' vs 'I have a cold'); between 'have' and 'have got' depending on tense, question form, and whether the meaning is possession or an activity; and correctly match 'there is/are' and ordinary verb agreement to a set of nouns whose grammatical number doesn't match their appearance, such as 'police' (always plural) and 'news' (always singular despite the final 's'). Corpus-based error analysis of intermediate learners identifies subject-verb agreement with irregular collective and plural nouns as one of the more stable long-term error types, persisting even after a learner has mastered regular agreement rules. These 45 exercises isolate each of these four systems: there is/are, be vs have, have vs have got, and have for fixed activity expressions.
There Is / There Are: Agreement with Uncountable and Plural Nouns
'There is' introduces something singular or uncountable; 'there are' introduces something plural. The choice depends on the noun immediately after the verb, not on any quantifier before it.
There are too many people in the queue. ('people' is plural)
There is a laptop, some books and a lamp on the desk. (agrees with the first item in a list)
Collective Nouns and Special Plurals: police, staff, trousers, news
Some nouns take a plural verb despite looking singular ('the police', 'the staff'), because they refer to a group of people. Others are always grammatically plural, even for one item ('trousers', 'jeans'). A third group looks plural but is grammatically singular ('news'). Indefinite pronouns like 'everyone', 'everybody', and 'nobody' are always singular.
These trousers are too long. (always plural)
The news is on television at nine. (looks plural, is singular)
Everyone in our class is nervous. ('everyone' is grammatically singular)
Have vs Have Got: Possession, Questions and Negatives
For present possession, 'have' and 'have got' are interchangeable in meaning, but they form questions, negatives, and the past differently. 'Have got' uses 'have/has' directly; plain 'have' needs 'do/does/did'. 'Have got' has no past form at all.
Do you have the time, please? (plain have — needs 'do')
Ten years ago, my parents had a small house. (past — never 'had got')
Have for Activities: have breakfast, have a rest, have a look
When 'have' is part of a fixed activity expression — having a meal, a rest, a look, a shower — it behaves like an ordinary action verb: it can be continuous, and it never takes 'got'.
You should have a proper rest. ('have got' is impossible with an activity)
On Sundays we usually have a big family lunch.
Be vs Have: Adjective or Noun After the Verb
'Be' is followed by an adjective describing a state; 'have' is followed by a noun describing a possession or condition.
She has a bad cold. (noun)
We are in a real hurry now. (fixed expression with 'be')
Common Mistakes
✗ The police is still looking for them. → ✓ The police are still looking for them.
✗ The news are on at nine. → ✓ The news is on at nine.
✗ My parents had got a small house. → ✓ My parents had a small house.
✗ I have got a rest every afternoon. → ✓ I have a rest every afternoon. ('have a rest' is an activity)
✗ We have late for the train. → ✓ We are late for the train. ('late' is an adjective)
✗ She is a bad cold. → ✓ She has a bad cold. ('a cold' is a noun)
✗ Do you have got a garden? → ✓ Have you got a garden?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between 'have' and 'have got'?
For present possession, 'have' and 'have got' mean the same thing and both are correct: 'I have a car' = 'I've got a car'. The difference is grammatical, not semantic. 'Have got' behaves like a fixed phrase with 'got' — its questions and negatives use 'have/has' directly, without 'do' ('Have you got a car?', 'She hasn't got a car'), and it has no past tense of its own ('had got' does not exist; the past is simply 'had'). Plain 'have' behaves like an ordinary verb — its questions and negatives need 'do/does/did' ('Do you have a car?', 'She doesn't have a car'), and it does have a past form, 'had'. 'Have got' is also never used for activities ('have breakfast', 'have a rest') or for the future.
Why is it 'the police are' but 'the news is'?
English has a small set of nouns whose grammatical number doesn't match their appearance. 'Police', 'staff', and similar collective nouns referring to groups of people always take a plural verb, even though they look singular: 'the police are looking for him', 'the staff are helpful'. 'News', by contrast, ends in 's' and looks plural but is grammatically singular and uncountable: 'the news is on at nine'. Other nouns like 'trousers' and 'jeans' are always plural, even referring to a single item: 'these trousers are too long'. There is no single rule that predicts these — each noun's agreement pattern has to be learned individually.
When do you use 'be' and when do you use 'have' to describe feelings or states?
The choice depends on whether the description is an adjective or a noun. Adjectives describing a state — nervous, late, hungry, cold — take 'be': 'I am nervous', 'we are late'. Nouns describing the same kind of state — a cold, a headache, an idea — take 'have': 'she has a cold', 'I have an idea'. Learners whose first language uses one verb for both patterns (for example, a verb equivalent to 'have' for both 'have a cold' and 'be cold') often produce errors like 'I have late' or 'I am a cold'. Checking whether the word after the verb is an adjective or a noun resolves the choice reliably.
How do you make questions and negatives with 'have got'?
Questions and negatives with 'have got' move 'have' or 'has' to the front, exactly like the verb 'be' — never adding 'do': 'Have you got a garden?', 'She hasn't got a car.' This is different from plain 'have' used for possession, which needs 'do/does' in questions and negatives, just like any other ordinary verb: 'Do you have a garden?', 'She doesn't have a car.' Short answers follow the same pattern as the question: 'Has the flat got a balcony?' — 'No, it hasn't' (not 'No, it doesn't', which would answer the plain-'have' version of the question instead).
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