PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS
1) Complete the sentences with the SIMPLE PAST of the verbs in parentheses:
a) They ____________________ (watch) TV last night. b) Priscila ____________________ (talk) to
her friends all day. c) I ___________________ (have) a terrible headache yesterday. d) Bob
_____________________ (come) home from school late. e) They ____________________ (arrive)
late and ___________________ (miss) the bus. f) She ____________________ (study) hard and
___________________(pass) the exam. g) He ____________________ (call) the office to tell them he
was sick. h) I ___________________ (speak) to the director as he was leaving the room. i) Dr.
Johnson ______________________ (get up) early this morning. j) Mary _____________________
(do) her homework and ________________ (go) to school. k) Chris ____________________ (find) a
ten-dollar bill. l) The dog ______________________ (follow) us down the road. m) Those students
_____________________ (work) hard last semester. n) Lúcio ___________________ (stop) at the
corner and __________________ (call) us. o) I ___________________ (try) to talk to Helen last night.
p) I ___________________ (pay) the phone bill yesterday. q) My dad ____________________ (catch)
a cold when he ________________ (be) in Canada. r) She _____________________ (leave) home
early yesterday. s) They ____________________ (know) each other very well when they
________________ (be) kids. t) The teacher _____________________ (bring) the exams corrected.
u) She was cleaning the vase when she ____________________ (drop) it. v) We
___________________ (jog) in the park yesterday. w) The fire ____________________ (occur) while
we ___________________ (be) out. x) I __________________ (meet) some nice people at the party
last weekend. y) Carol _____________________ (sleep) until late on the weekend. Then, she
_______________ (go) out to lunch. z) We ______________________ (fly) to the USA on a great
airplane.
2) Write questions or negatives sentences:
a) She visited her parents last weekend. Question:
__________________________________________________________?
b) He cleaned his room before school. Question:
___________________________________________________________?
c) The teacher found the missing exams. Negative:
____________________________________________________________?
d) Tom wanted to go to the movies alone. Question:
___________________________________________________________?
e) Helena offered Henrique a piece of cake. Negative:
___________________________________________________________?
f) I knew what to do. Negative:
____________________________________________________________?
g) Alexandre helped Anita with her homework. Question:
___________________________________________________________?
h) You ate cookies after dinner. Negative:
____________________________________________________________?
4. Write the correct form of the verb in the spaces below using past continuous:
1) We _____ ________ (to go) to the mall last night. 2) She _____ ________ (to talk) to the
police officer last week. 3) I _____ ________ (to buy) a new bicycle when you called me. 4)
John _____ ________ (to listen) to a CD an hour ago. 5) Margo, Juan, and Anika _____ not
________ (to ride) on the bus to work. 6) We _____ ________ (to try) to get five gold
medals in the last Olympics. 7) My brother _____ ________ (to be) mean last night. 8) The
four of us _____ ________ (to swim) in the lake yesterday. 9) My mom _____ ________ (to
rock) the baby to sleep last night. 10 ) I _____ ________ (to sing) in my car this morning.
5. Fill in the spaces with the correct form of the verb in parentheses in past
continuous tense.
1) Dr. Andrews (call) _______ _______ his patient earlier today. 2) My brother and I (buy)
_______ _______ donuts for breakfast at nine o'clock this morning. 3) Becky (skate)
_______ _______ when she fell and broke her ankle. 4) They (bake) _______ _______
twelve cherry pies yesterday. 5) Ms. Rodriguez (teach) _______ _______ three classes last
year while Mr. Leonard was teaching two. 6) The child (play) _______ _________ a game
with his friend when his mother called him. 7) The Senate (meet) _______ _______ in a
closed session on Tuesday. 8) The statues (sit) _______ _______ on the lawn for decades.
9) The comedians (joke) _______ _______ with the audience earlier. 10) She (think)
_______ _______ of traveling to Spain, but her mother became ill, so she stayed home to
care for her.
6. Past Simple vs Past Continuous: Read the paragraph below. Find the 5 mistakes.
Circle the mistakes and write the correct sentence.
My friend Steve lives in Newcastle. When I was calling him yesterday, he was answering
immediately. Steve said he was being busy and couldn’t talk. He was having a lot of work
yesterday and didn’t even having time for lunch.
1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________
4. ______________________________________
5. ______________________________________
