past simple or past perfect

1. When their mum _______________ (come) home last night, the children _______________ (eat)
their dinner.
2. Yesterday I _______________ (see) a woman who _______________ (be) at school with my
grandfather. Isn't it strange?
3. It started to rain and I _______________ (remember) that I _______________ (forget) to close my
bedroom window.
4. I _______________ (find) a book that I ______ never _______________ (read)
5. We _______________ (try) to change the plane tickets but it was too late they ______ already
___________ (edit) the boarding pass.
6. I _______________ (think) I _______________ (met) this girl before.

1) We had already eaten when John ___________________ (come) home. .

2) Last year Juan ____________________ (pass) all his exams. .
3) When I ________________________ (get) to the airport I discovered I had
forgotten my passport. .
4) I went to the library, then I _______________(buy) some milk and went home. .
5) I opened my handbag to find that I ___________________(forget) my credit card. .
6) When we ___________________ (arrive) at the station, the train had already left. .
7) We got home to find that someone _____________________ (break) into the
house. .
8) I opened the fridge to find that someone ______________________ (eat) all my
chocolate. .
9) I had known my husband for three years when we ___________________ (get)
married. .
10) Julie was very pleased to see that John __________________ (clean) the kitchen.
.
11) It ________________________ (rain) all summer, so the grass was completely
dead. .

12) When he _____________________ (arrive) at the party, Julie had just left. .
13) After arriving home, I realised I ________________(buy) any milk. .
14) The laundry was wet - it _____________________ (rain) while I was out. .
15) William felt ill last night because he ____________________ (eat) too many
cakes. .
16) Keiko ___________________ (meet) William last September. .
17) First I tidied the flat, then I __________________ (sit) down and had a cup of
coffee.
18) John _________________ (play) the piano when he was a child, but he doesn't
play now. .
19) When I opened the curtains the sun was shining and the ground was white. It
_____________________ (snow) during the night. .
20) When Julie got home from her holiday, the flat was a mess. John______________
(have) a party.

THE PAST SIMPLE VS. THE PAST CONTINUOUS.

1.- I lit the fire at 6.00 and it ___________________ (burn) brightly when Tom came in at 7.00.
2.- I ___________________ (make) a cake when the light went out. I had to finish it in the dark.
3.- I didn't want to meet Paul so when he entered the room I ___________________ (leave)
4.- He (watch) TV when the phone rang. He ___________________ (turn) down the sound and
___________________ (go) to answer ti.
5.- He always ___________________ (wear) a raincoat and ___________________ (carry) his
umbrella when he walked to the office.
6.- He ___________________ (play) the guitar outside her house when someone opened the window
and ___________________ (throw) out a bucket of water.
7.- I just ___________________ (open) the letter when the wind ___________________ (blow) it out
of my hand.
8.-The burglar ___________________ (open) the safe when he ___________________ (hear)
footsteps.
He immediately ___________________ (put) out his torch and (___________________crawl)
under the bed.
9.- When I ___________________ (look) for my passport I ___________________ (find) this old
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photograph.
10.- He___________________ (clean) his gun when it accidentally ___________________ (go) off
and ___________________ (kill) him.
11.- As I ___________________ (cross) the road I ___________________ (step) on a banana skin
and ___________________ (fall) heavily.
12.- I ___________________ (call) Paul at 7.00 but it wasn't necessary because he already
___________________ (get) up.
13.- While the guests ___________________ (dance) thieves___________________ (break) into the
house and___________________ (steal) a lot of fur coats.
14.- The murderer ___________________ (carry) the corpse down the stairs when
he___________________ (hear) a knock on the door.
15.- While I ___________________ (cook) breakfast he ___________________ (read) the
newspaper.

SIMPLE PAST/PAST CONTINUOUS & PAST PERFECT

1. I decided to learn English when we (live) _________________ in Sydney.
2. I (drive) ________________ my car for more than 11 hours when we reached the border.
3. The competitors (shake) _________________ hands after the ceremony ended.
4. I went to the box office at lunch-time, but they (already, sell) _______________ all the tickets.
5. Prof. Powell (teach) ______________ his grammar class for 20 minutes only when an explosion
occurred in the main hall of the building.
6. I saw them as I (drive) ______________to work.
7. Unfortunately his girlfriend was not there because she (already, leave) ______________ when he
arrived.
8. I saw her at the party and I realised that we (already, meet) ______________one week earlier.
9. When John arrived, I (still, work) ______________in the garden.
10. Cindy started to feel very cold because she (stand) ______________ in the snow for over three
hours.

SIMPLE PAST/PAST CONTINUOUS & PAST PERFECT

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who _____________ (be) usually very late in the mornings, save upon those
not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I
______________ (stand) upon the hearth-rug and ______________ (pick up) the stick which our
visitor ______________ (leave) behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood,
bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under the head
______________ (be) a broad silver band nearly an inch across. "To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from
his friends of the C.C.H.," was ______________ (engrave) upon it, with the date "1884." It was just
such a stick as the old fashioned family practitioner used to carry--dignified, solid, and reassuring.

"Well, Watson, what ______________ (you make) of it?"

Holmes ______________ (sit) with his back to me, and I ______________ (give) him no sign of my
occupation.

"How ______________ (you know) what I ______________ (do)? I ______________ (believe) you
have eyes in the back of your head."