Quick Reference

 We use the past simple of the verb be (was/ were) to talk about a past situation.

It was cold yesterday. The shops were closed.

Affirmative Negative Question

He was He wasn’t Was he?

They were They weren’t Were they?

 We use the past simple of regular and irregular verbs to talk about something that happened and
finished at a particular moment in the past, a completed action. We usually say or know when the
action happened.

I left school in 1995. He died on Friday. The programme started ten minutes ago.

 Often we don’t say when something happened. It is understood.

Amy went to a party yesterday. She met Tim, and Rick was there too. She danced with him all night.

We also use the past simple to describe:

 Something that happened regularly or continually in the past.

He caught the bus every morning at 8:10. She smoked 20 cigarettes a day.

 A situation that existed in the past over a period of time, not just at one fixed moment.

They lived in an old farm house. She had four children.

 The form of the past simple:

Affirmative Negative Questions

Regular verbs He lived He didn’t live Did he live?

1) Odd records. Complete these sentences with verbs in the past simple. Choose forms:

get on eat speak ride have sit

a) A Russian woman, Feodor Vassiina (1707 - 1782) _____________________69

children.
b) In 1993 Steve Meltzer of Brooklyn, New York ____________________ _ 96
sausages in 6 minutes.
c) In 1982-93 Timothy Roy __________________ in a tree in California for 431
days non-stop.
d) University lecturer Kapila Kumarasinghe ____________________ non-stop
about Buddhism for 159 hours.
e) 16 people __________________ the same bicycle and __________________ it
for 50 metres in Tokyo in 1979.
 2) Ann Miller went on a business trip to Canada last week. Complete the questions
and her answers.

Example: weather / good? Yes Was the weather good? Yes, it was.

a) Flight/OK? ____________________________ Yes, ___________________

b) Weather/hot? _________________________ No, ____________________
c) Meetings/useful?_______________________ Yes, ___________________
d) Food/good? ___________________________ Yes, ___________________
e) Things/ expensive? _____________________ No, ____________________
f) The trip/ successful? ____________________ Yes, ____________________
3) Complete this newspaper story with verbs in the past simple. Choose from these verbs.

not know lose ring steal make go

be(x2) get understand say take have

On Tuesday last week Mrs. Hilary Fox (1) _________________________ her purse while
on a shopping trip. When she (2) _____________________home the telephone (3)
________________. The man at the other end (4) ___________________ he (5)
__________________the manager of a local supermarket and he (6)
_______________________her purse. She immediately (7)_____________back to the
supermarket. But the manager (8) ____________________anything about her purse but
half an hour later she (9) _____________________ the reason-the same thief who
(10)____________________ her purse (11) ____________________ the phone call. The,
while she (12) ______________________ at the supermarket, he (13) ________________
the opportunity to steal everything in her flat as well as her purse.

4) The mother of a teenager boy is complaining about her son. Complete what she
says.
a) He loses a lot of things. Last week he _______________ his watch and a jacket.
b) He does very little homework. Last night he ______________any.
c) He sleeps most of the days. Last Sunday morning he _____________ till
midday.
d) He spends all his money on clothes. Last month he ______________ over $100.
e) He goes out a lot. Last week he __________________ out every evening.
f) And he always comes home late. Last Saturday night he ________________ till
3 am.
g) He leaves his room in a terrible mess. Yesterday he _________________ all his
clothes on the floor.
h) He eats a lot. Yesterday he ________________________ a whole loaf of bread
when he came home.
5) Rob Howell lived for a year in Spain. Complete the questions for his answers.
a) When _________________________? – I went in August.
b) Where ________________________? – I lived in Barcelona.
 c) _____________________________? – Yes, I got a job as an English teacher.
d) How __________________________? – I found it through a friend.
e) Who __________________________? – I taught groups of teenagers.
f) _______________________________? – No, it wasn’t well paid.
6) Read this newspaper story. Look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are
correct and some have a mistake. If a line is correct put a tick (..) after it. If a line
has a mistake in it, underline the mistake and write the correction in the
brackets.

Carl Harris was in Brixton prison, London. He works in the prison kitchen.

One morning he saw a chance to escape. A truck full of potatoes come into

The prison yard. He took half the sacks of potatoes into the kitchen. The

Driver tells him to leave the rest in the truck stopped. Harris then hid among the

Sacks of potatoes which was still in the truck. The truck then left the prison.

After half and hour the truck stopped and the driver gets out. Harris now

Thinks it was safe to come out. He couldn’t believe it – he wasn’t free,

He was in another prison yard! The other sacks of potatoes were for the

prisoners in Wands worth Prison, London.

Line 1 (___)

Line 2 (___)

Line 3 (___)

Line 4 (___)

Line 5 (___)

Line 6 (___)

Line 7 (___)

Line 8 (___)