PRESENT SIMPLE AND PRESENT CONTINUOUS

VERBS USING PRESENT SIMPLE RATHER THAN PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Exercise 1:

PRESENT SIMPLE and PRESENT CONTINUOUS: Permanent and temporary

Exercise 2: Complete these sentences, putting the verbs into the correct tense.

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Exercise 3: Present continuous or present simple?

Exercise 4: Present continuous or present simple?

Exercise 5: Use “always” and the present continuous or present simple?

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Exercise 6: I think/ I’m thinking. Complete the conversation. Choose the correct form of the verb.

Exercise 7: The verb Be. Put in the correct form of “be”.

Exercise 8: Complete the conversation. Use the present continuous or present simple.

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 PAST SIMPLE AND PAST CONTINUOUS
PAST SIMPLE PAST CONTINUOUS

EXERCISE 1: Complete these sentences by putting the verbs into the past simple or the past continuous.

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Past continuous as narrative:

The past continuous is often used in a past simple narrative to describe the background history or environment:

It was a typical summer afternoon: the sun was beating down, the cars were creeping slowly round the corner of the park.
Five or six children were playing in the stream by the fountaim jumping in and out of the water, their laughter mixing with
the noise of the traffic. All the world was wearing shorts and T- shirts, or bathing costumes: yet Walter Harrison, sitting on a
park bench in his overcoat, was feeling cold and lonely. “Where will it all end?” he thought, as he watched the children
splashing and laughing. After a few minutes, he got up and walked through the park gates. His adventure was about to begin
EXERCISE 2: Practice in your notebook, write the verbs in this story in the past simple or past continuous. Sometimes both
tenses are possible, choose the one that is most likely.
He stopped just before putting his key in the front door. Something was happemng in the back garden. Quietly, he crept
around the side of the house and 1____________________ (look) through the gate. Two men 2____________________
(stand) at the back of the house, holding a ladder. A third man was at the top of the ladder, and a fourth inside the house: he
3____________________ (pass) furniture through the window to his partner, who 4____________________ (give) it to his
friends below. All four 5____________________ (work) quietly and efficiently, and the pile of furniture in the garden (get)
bigger by the minute. Derek 6____________________ (can not) believe his eyes: the team of strangers
7____________________ (empty) his entire flat, and they 8____________________ (behave) as if this was the most normal
thing in the world! He 9____________________ (cough) loudly, and then 10____________________ (say) 'Excuse me!' and
the man at the top af the ladder 11____________________ (drop) his portable TV onto the concrete below.
Contrast: past continuous versus past simple

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The past simple describes a complete event in the past.
The past continuous does not describe the complete event, it describes the event in progress, at some time between its
beginning and its end.
Stative verbs, that is verbs that describe thoughts, sentiments and states, cannot normally be put into the continuous form.
Look at the difference between these sentences:
 He was cooking the dinner when I arrived. (He started cooking the dinner before my arrival and the cooking was in
progress at the time of my arrival.)
He cooked the dinner when I arrived. (I arrived and then he cooked the dinner. Two complete events.)
 While I was making the dinner, the children were watching television. (Two activities in progress at the same time.)
While I made the dinner, the children watched television. (Two complete events that happened at the same time.)
 I was having a bath at 8 o'clock. (The bath started before 8 0'clock and was still in progress at 8 o'clock.)
I had a bath at 8 o'clock. (This describes the complete event. It started at 8 o'clock.)
EXERCISE 3: Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple or past continuous.
Here he 1_________________ (be), Davey Stark, the big rock star. It 2_________________ (be) the end of an exhausting
two-hour concert. The fans 3_________________ (scream) and 4_________________ (shout). They 5_________________
(want) Davey, their hero. His face 6_________________ (pour) with sweat, his hair 7_________________ (drip) and his
heart 8_________________ (thump) violently. But he 9_________________ (love) these moments at the end of a concert.
He always 10_________________ (feel) powerful and in control. He 11_________________ (decide) to do one more song
for the crowd: one of his most popular. When he 12_________________ (start) singing, the crowd 12_________________
(go) wild. By the end of the song, they 13_________________ (all/dance) and 14_________________ (clap) their hands.
When Davey 15_________________ (leave) the stage, he 16_________________ (be) exhausted but exhilarated. But when
he 17_________________ (get back) to the dressing room, he 18_________________ (open) the door and
19_________________ (see) that two men 20_________________ (wait) for him. They 21_________________ (lock) the
door behind Davey. He 22_________________ (shout) for his bodyguard Bernard, but no-one 23_________________
(come). The two men 24_________________ (tie) his hands behind his back, 25_________________ (blindfold) and
26_________________ (gag) him. Davey 27_________________ (can hear) Bernard in the next room. Bernard
28_________________ (talk) to someone and he 29_________________ (say) terrible things about Davey. He
30_________________ (say) that Davey 31_________________ (deserve) it. 32_________________ (Deserve) what?
What 33_________________ (he/mean)? What 34_________________ (go on)? Why 35_________________ (someone
tell) him what 36_________________ (happen)?
EXERCISE 4: Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple or past continuous.
1. It 1 happened (happen) in June 1985. It 2_________________ (be) summer and we 3_________________ (all/lie
out) in the garden. My mother 4_________________ (read) and my uncle 5_________________ (just/doze) in the sun. We
children 6_________________ (look for) worms and insects. And then he 7_________________ (arrive). He
8_________________ (be) a tall, handsome man with piercing blue eyes and he 9_________________ (look) straight at my
mother. Her face 10_________________ (go) pale and her eyes 11_________________ (open) wide with shock. “Arthur, I
12_________________ (think) you 13_________________ (be) dead”, she 14_________________ (say) in a kind of
whisper.
2. A: I 15_________________ (phone) you at about 9 o'clock this morning but you 16_________________ (not
answer). What 17_________________ (you/do)?
B: Well, I 18_________________ (hear) the phone but I 19_________________ (have) a shower and I
20_________________(can not) get out in time to answer it. Anyway, what 21_________________ (you/want)?
A: Well, last night I 22_________________(clear out) that old desk you 23_________________(give) me when I
24_________________(come across) a pile of old letters with a red ribbon around them.

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B: My letters?

A: Yes, they 25_________________ (be addressed) to you. And they 26_________________(all/smell) of perfume, a man’s
perfume.

3. Last night Jake 27_________________ (wake up) at about 3 a.m. As soon as he 28_________________ (wake up),
he 29_________________ (listen out) for strange noises but he 30_________________ (not hear) any. His father
31_________________ (snore) in the next room, some central heating pipes 32________________ (make) a bit of a noise
and a tap 33_________________ (drip) in the bothroom. It was all as usual. Jake 34_________________ (open) the window
and 35_________________ (look) outside. The moon 36_____________(be) full and it 37_________________ (shine)
brightly. Jake 38_________________ (think) he 39_________________ (see) an owl in one of the tree. He
40_________________ (can certainly hear) one. But then he 41_________________ (see) something different. A man – no,
it 42_________________ (be) a woman. She 43_________________ (wear) white and she 44_________________ (hide)
behide a tree. Suddenly she 45_________________ (run) towards the house.

EXERCISE 5: Put in the appropriate tense.

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KEY
Simple present and present continuous
Exercise 1: (10)

Exercise 2: Complete these sentences, putting the verbs

into the correct tense. (11) Simple past and past continuous
EXERCISE 1: Complete these sentences by putting the
verbs into the past simple or the past continuous.

Exercise 2: Past continuous as narrative

Exercise 3: Present continuous or present simple?

Exercise 3:

Exercise 4: Present continuous or present simple?

Exercise 4:
Exercise 5: Use “always” and the present continuous
or present simple?

Exercise 6: I think/ I’m thinking.

Exercise 7: The verb Be.

Exercise 5:
Exercise 8:

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