Unit 6: Past Tenses

1
For questions 1 to 4 choose which tense is used in the capitalized section of each
sentence.

When I arrived JOHN STARTED to cook.

1 -
Past simple

Correct.
2 -
Past continuous

Incorrect. See page 2.

3 -
Past perfect

Incorrect. See page 2.

4 -
Past perfect continuous

Incorrect. See page 2.

2
By the time I arrived JOHN HAD BEEN COOKING for 30 minutes.

1 -
Past simple

Incorrect. See page 6.

2 -
Past continuous

Incorrect. See page 6.

3 -
Past perfect

Incorrect. See page 6.

4 -
Past perfect continuous

Correct.
3
When I arrived JOHN WAS COOKING.

1 -
Past simple

Incorrect. See page 4.

2 -
Past continuous

Correct.
3 -
Past perfect

Incorrect. See page 4.

4 -
Past perfect continuous

Incorrect. See page 4.

4
By the time I arrived JOHN HAD FINISHED cooking.

1 -
Past simple

Incorrect. See page 5.

2 -
Past continuous

Incorrect. See page 5.

3 -
Past perfect

Correct.
4 -
Past perfect continuous

Incorrect. See page 5.

5
For questions 5 to 8 match the given sentence with its usage.

By the time I arrived JOHN HAD BEEN COOKING for 30 minutes.

1 -
An action that began before a time in the past and continued up until that time
with no indication whether or not the action continued beyond that time

Correct.
2 -
Action in progress at a past time

Incorrect. See page 6.

3 -
Completed past action

Incorrect. See page 6.

4 -
Action completed before another past action

Incorrect. See page 6.

6
When I arrived JOHN WAS COOKING.

1 -
An action that began before a time in the past and continued up until that time
with no indication whether or not the action continued beyond that time

Incorrect. See page 4.

2 -
Action in progress at a past time

Correct.
3 -
Completed past action
Incorrect. See page 4.
4 -
Action completed before another past action

Incorrect. See page 4.

7
When I arrived JOHN STARTED to cook.

1 -
An action that began before a time in the past and continued up until that time
with no indication whether or not the action continued beyond that time

Incorrect. See page 2.

2 -
Action in progress at a past time

Incorrect. See page 2.

3 -
Completed past action

Correct.
4 -
Action completed before another past action

Incorrect. See page 2.

8
By the time I arrived JOHN HAD FINISHED cooking.

1 -
An action that began before a time in the past and continued up until that time
with no indication whether or not the action continued beyond that time

Incorrect. See page 5.

2 -
Action in progress at a past time

Incorrect. See page 5.

3 -
Completed past action

Incorrect. See page 5.

4 -
Action completed before another past action

Correct.
9
Which of the following is a past continuous sentence?

1 -
I slept well last night.

Incorrect. See page 4.

2 -
At 2:00 a.m. last night I was sleeping.

Correct.
3 -
I have never slept as well as I did last night.
Incorrect. See page 4.
4 -
I sleep soundly most nights.

Incorrect. See page 4.

10
Which of the following is a past perfect sentence?

1 -
John has never scored a goal for his team.

Incorrect. See page 5.

2 -
By the end of the match John had scored three goals.

Correct.
3 -
John scored two goals last Saturday.

Incorrect. See page 5.

4 -
John usually scores at least two goals per game.

Incorrect. See page 5.

11
Which of the following is a past simple sentence?

1 -
I was shopping all weekend.

Incorrect. See page 2.

2 -
I go shopping every weekend.

Incorrect. See page 2.

3 -
I like going shopping with my wife.

Incorrect. See page 2.

4 -
I went to the shop last weekend.

Correct.
12
Which of the following is a usage of the past continuous tense?

1 -
Action in progress at a specific time in the past

Correct.
2 -
A completed past action

Incorrect. See page 4.

3 -
An action that was completed before a past time

Incorrect. See page 4.

4 -
An action that began in the past and continues up until the present time

Incorrect. See page 4.

13
Which of the following verbs has an irregular past simple form?

1 -
Play

Incorrect. See page 2.

2 -
Work

Incorrect. See page 2.

3 -
Cook

Incorrect. See page 2.

4 -
Buy

Correct.
14
Which of the following is a past perfect continuous sentence?

1 -
Prior to 1989 I had been living in India for six years.

Correct.
2 -
I was living in India in 1989.

Incorrect. See page 6.

3 -
I have lived in India since 1989.

Incorrect. See page 6.

4 -
I lived in India between 1989 and 1995.

Incorrect. See page 6.

15
Which of the following verbs has a regular past simple form?

1 -
Catch

Incorrect. See page 2.

2 -
Want

Correct.
3 -
Do

Incorrect. See page 2.

4 -
Be
Incorrect. See page 2.