1) Fill in the blanks with the past tense form of the verb TO BE.
a. Eva _______________ sick yesterday.
b. We _______________ in the same class last year.
c. I _______________ tired after a long day at work.
d. The weather _______________ beautiful yesterday.
e. My teachers _______________ really good last semester.
f. The children _______________ hungry after so much exercise.
g. The wind _______________ very strong last night.
h. She _______________ so happy last week.
i. They _______________ nervous on the first day of school.
j. Luckily, the windows _______________ closed during the rainstorm.
k. We _______________ very happy to get your invitation last week.
2) Create questions using the prompt and the simple past tense.
Ex.: a. at home / last night: Were you at home last night?
b. at school / yesterday
___________________________________________________________________________
c. at the movies / last weekend
___________________________________________________________________________
d. at the gym / last week
___________________________________________________________________________
e. at the mall / last month
___________________________________________________________________________
f. in another country / last year
___________________________________________________________________________
g. tired / last night
___________________________________________________________________________
h. angry / last week
___________________________________________________________________________
i. sick / last month
___________________________________________________________________________
j. excited / about your last birthday
___________________________________________________________________________
k. happy / during your last vacation
___________________________________________________________________________
3) Write the past forms of these verbs.
Ex be was / were
b begin
c bring
d catch
e hope
f talk
g choose
h do
i fall
j go
k have
l know
m make
n read
o listen
p like
q run
r study
s see
t sing
u sleep
v take
w teach
x think
y ask
z write
4) Choose the correct verb from the box to complete the following sentences. Write
the verbs in the correct tense to make the sentences plausible.
a. I _______________ my friend in the hospital last night.
b. The boys _______________ baseball in the field behind the school.
c. Robert _______________ his wife wash the dishes.
d. We _______________ our living room a soft blue colour.
e. Susan _______________ TV for two hours last night.
f. We _______________ planes on the way to New York.
g. She _______________ for him for twenty minutes at the coffee shop.
h. He _______________ how to swim when he was a child.
i. They _______________ all around the country three years ago.
j. The students _______________ late for class.
k. We _______________ to the radio until midnight.
l. She _______________ a plate when she was washing the dishes.
m. They _______________ to Paris in a jumbo jet last week.
n. I _______________ the alarm clock for 7:00 yesterday morning, but I _______________
up an hour before the alarm clock _______________.
o. I _______________ an e-mail to my friend back home.
p. He _______________ a five-page essay last night.
q. His mother _______________ care of him when he _______________ sick.
r. The teacher _______________ the mathematics clas and then _______________ the
students three exercises for homework.
s. Matthew _______________ his wallet on the way to work yesterday. He
_______________ very upset.
t. Angie _______________ a bad cold last week. She _______________ in bed for three
days.
u. The children _______________ in the lake behind their house last summer.
v. We _______________ a wonderful time at your party last night.
w. I _______________ groceries on my way home yesterday and I _______________ cash.
x. I _______________ three friends at the cafe and we _______________ several cups of
coffee together.
5) Complete the following sentences using yesterday, last or ago.
a. We went skiing a lot _______________ winter.
b. She came to this country three years _______________.
c. The teacher cancelled the class _______________ Monday.
d. I spoke to him for ten minutes _______________.
e. We went dancing _______________ night.
f. The boss was away _______________ morning.
g. We began this class _______________ fall.
h. The children ran outside _______________ afternoon.
i. She got married five years _______________.
h. We went shopping _______________.
i. He left five minutes _______________.
6) Complete the sentences using the past tense. Make the first sentence negative and
the second one positive.
Ex.: Ben usually eats cereal for breakfast.
He didn´t eat cereal yesterday.
He ate toast.
a. Ben usually gets up at 7:00
He _______________ at 7:00 yesterday.
He _______________ at 8:00.
b. Ben usually takes a shower
He _______________ a shower yesterday.
He _______________ a bath.
c. Ben usually reads the Times newspaper.
He _______________ the Times yesterday.
He _______________ the Post.
d. Ben usually has a lot of appointments everyday.
He _______________ a lot of appointments yesterday.
He only _______________ a few.
e. Ben usually writes ten e-mails in the morning
He _______________ ten e-mails yesterday.
He _______________ five letters.
7) Fill in the past simple tense to tell the story.
a. On Friday, the children _______________ (talk) about a day out together in the country.
The next morning, they _______________ (go) to the country with their two dogs and
_______________ (play) together. Ben and Dave _______________ (have) some kites. Some
time later the dogs _______________ (be) not there. So, they _______________ (call) them
and _______________ (look) for them in the forest. After half and hour the children
_______________ (find) them and _______________ (take) them back. Charlie
_______________ (be) very happy to see them again. At lunch time Nick _______________
(go) to the bikes and _______________ (fetch) the basket with some meat sandwiches. Then
they _______________ (play) football. Nick and Dave _______________ (win). In the
evening they _______________ (ride) home.
b. The pupils of class 8B _______________ (do) a project last week. First the pupils
_______________ (choose) what they wanted to do. Then they _______________ (get)
information from books and brochures, and they _______________ (talk) to a lot of people.
They _______________ (find) some interesting photos in the library. Their teacher
_______________ (help) them when they _______________ (ask) her. Then they
_______________ (make) a poster and a video, and _______________ (tell) the other groups
about their project.
8) Write down the negative form of the sentences below.
a. She came to my party.
___________________________________________________________________________
b. The weather was nice.
___________________________________________________________________________
c. He wrote an email.
___________________________________________________________________________
d. They came home late.
___________________________________________________________________________
e. He ran fast.
___________________________________________________________________________
f. She bought a new car.
___________________________________________________________________________
g. They were angry.
___________________________________________________________________________
h. She found her ring.
___________________________________________________________________________
i. He was late.
___________________________________________________________________________
j. They sang beautifully.
___________________________________________________________________________
9) Write down the negative form and the interrogative form of the sentences below.
a. She met him at my party.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
b. It was sunny last week.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
c. He phoned me yesterday.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
d. They read a book.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
e. He did his homework.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
f. She helped me a lot.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
g. He was scared.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
h. They left in the afternoon.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
i. Bill was hungry.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
j. They ran to the church.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
j. He visited his uncle.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
j. Pam read a book.
N: ________________________________________________________________________
Q: ________________________________________________________________________
10) Write the Past Simple of the verbs in the correct column.
-ed -d -ied Double consonant
+ -ed
11) Fill the blanks with the Past Continuous.
a. _______________ his time and strength to relieve suffering? (he / not / give)
b. A tall figure _______________ them along the deck. (approach)
c. He _______________ himself now. (not / exert)
d. _______________, all of them? (why / they / not / sleep)
e. She dreamed that the tree _______________. (fall)
f. One day, seeing that his wife _______________, he commanded Nicholas to lead her out.
(not / dance)
g. But since he _______________, she felt free to let her little fist seek her moth for comfort.
(not / look)
h. She realised they _______________ on her. (gain)
i. A car _______________ up at the entrance. (pull)
j. _______________? She wondered. (where / she / go)
12) Create sentences using the prompt and the Past Continuous tense.
a. they / take the exam / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
b. when / he / work there / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
c. you / make dinner / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
d. they / drink coffee / when you arrived / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
e. when / we / sleep / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
f. they / study / last night
___________________________________________________________________________
g. we / talk / when the accident happened
___________________________________________________________________________
h. he / not / exercise enough
___________________________________________________________________________
i. I / talk / too much / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
j. it / not / snow
___________________________________________________________________________
k. how / they / feel / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
l. they / not / talk
___________________________________________________________________________
l. where / I / stay / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
m. why / he / study / on a Saturday night / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
n. I / go to school / when you saw me
___________________________________________________________________________
o. you / sleep / at 6 a.m.
___________________________________________________________________________
p. she / work / when I called
___________________________________________________________________________
q. we / not / leave / when you called
___________________________________________________________________________
r. I / not / stay in a hotel
___________________________________________________________________________
s. we / make too much noise / ?
___________________________________________________________________________
13) Complete the sentences with the Past Simple or the Past Continuous forms of
the verbs in brackets.
a. Were you _______________ (watch) the football match on TV when I _______________
(phone)?
b. The teachers _______________ (speak) when you _______________ (arrive) to school.
c. We _______________ (not like) the movie. It was boring.
d. I _________________ (not listen) to music last night. I ______________ (study)
Chemistry.
e. She _______________ (have) a shower when you ______________ (knock) at the door.
f. They _____________ (not go) to the theatre last month. The tickets were all sold.
g. While Chris and Jane ___________________ (travel) on Saturday, we
_________________ (prepare) the party for their arrival.
h. The children _______________ (sing) some songs last week, at the Christmas Festival.
i. Yesterday, I _______________ (hear) a strange noise while I _______________ (put on)
my pyjamas.
j. We _________________ (write) notes in class, when the Headmaster _____________
(come) in.
k. What __________ you __________ (do) last Tuesday at 11 p.m.?
14) Underline the correct answer.
a. While my mother [cooked / was cooking], she [watched / was watching] TV.
b. We [slept / were sleeping] in our bedrooms at 6 o’clock.
c. The boys [played / were playing] baseball when it [started / was starting] to rain.
d. My cousin [had / was having] dinner when the telephone [rang / was ringing].
e. When I [got / was getting] up, my father [read / was reading] the newspaper.
f. Emilio [fell / was falling] when he [painted / was painting] the wall.
g. The doctor [examined / was examining] my eyesight yesterday.
15) Complete the following text with the Past Simple of the Past Continuous forms of
the verbs in brackets.
I was (be) with some friends and we _______________ (run) in a race. It was a marathon.
There _____________ (be) hundreds of runners around us, men and women, and it
_____________ (be) extremely hot. As we _____________ (cross) a bridge over a river, I
suddenly _____________ (notice) that everyone in the race _______________ (have) the
same face, even my friends! They were all the same person! I _____________ (want) to stop,
but there ______________ (be) so many people behind me that I _______________ (have to)
keep running. Then I _______ __________ (wake up) screaming.
16) Complete the sentences with the past continuous form of the verbs in brackets.
a. I _______________ (make) my dinner at 8 o’clock last night.
b. Joe and Sam _______________ (use) the wrong program in IT yesterday
c. Who was that guy you _________________ (dance) with at the party?
d. Paula _________________ (come) home from school when she saw an accident.
e. In 1999 my father _____________ (live) in Dublin. That’s where he met my mother.
f. He __________________ (open) the box when he cut his finger.
g.This time last week, we __________________ (visit) my grandmother.
h. I __________________ (sit) at the back of the classroom so I couldn’t see the screen.
i. Andrew __________________ (insert) a photo into his document when the teacher stopped
the class.
j. I __________________ (start) to do my homework when my friend sent me a message.
