SIMPLE PAST TENSE &

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

English
Grammar Practices
  

Practice 1
Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of these regular verbs in simple past tense.

1. I ____________________(clean) my car last Monday

2. She____________________ (walk) back home few hours ago.

3. We____________________ (serve) our mother dinner last week.

4. They____________________ (work) in Shatin yesterday.

5. He ____________________ (watch) the movie on Friday.

6. She____________________ (play) chess on Saturday.

7. He ____________________ (rest) his head on the cushion.

8. Mr. Chan ____________________ (knock) the door before going into the room.

9. My sister____________________ (use) my umbrella yesterday.

10. The Wong’s family____________________ (call) the police when they saw a robbery this

morning.

11. Janice _________________ (enjoy) her breakfast with her parents this morning.

12. Khan _______________ (dream) of a car accident last night.

13. Candy ______________ (celebrate) her birthday and _______________ (receive) many

birthday presents.

14. Tammy ________________ (raise) her daughter by herself.

15. Kim ___________________ (bang) on the door to wake up the person inside.

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Practice 2

Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of these regular verbs in simple past tense.

1. Mum____________________ (wash) the dishes after dinner last week.

2. Frank told me that he____________________ (worry) about the last test.

3. He ____________________ (cry) when he knew he lost the competition.

4. Mr. Fung____________________ (discover) a new planet through his telescope last

Saturday.

5. My sister ____________________ (fry) chicken wings for me yesterday.

6. The butterfly ____________________ (die) in the park last morning.

7. Nathan ________________ (join) the scout when he was small.

8. Kate _________________ (listen) to a new song and sang along with it.

9. Dan ______________ (record) a message for Mary in his phone.  

10. Winnie ________________ (turn) on the fan when her teacher told her to.

11. I ____________________ (enjoy) the show so much last night.

12. Jimmy _________________ (quit) his job last week.

13. Polly _________________ (learn) how to make a cake last Saturday.

14. Sam ________________ (study) another language when he was eight.  

15. She ____________________ (claim) that she was late for school today

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Practice 3
Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of these regular verbs in simple past tense.

1. I ____________________ (trap) a mouse on Monday.  

2. You ____________________ (jog) yesterday morning.  

3. We ____________________ (flip) the pancakes at breakfast.  

4. They ____________________ (chop) firewood last winter.  

5. He ____________________ (mix) the chemicals together in the lab.  

6. The nurse____________________ (help) the patient to stand up.

7. We ____________________ (travel) to Japan last year.  

8. The poor man ____________________ (beg) for food in the street this morning.  

9. I ____________________ (clap) my hands when the show was finished.  

10. Shirley _______________ (punch) holes through the papers.

11. The Collins ______________ (plan) a trip to England together last summer.  

12. Ted _____________ (lie) to his teacher that he finished his homework yesterday.  

13. People _______________ (tie) knots to record things billions years ago.  

14. Some farmers _______________ (plant) only vegetables.  

15. People mostly ______________ (work) in the factories back in the 1960s.  

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Practice 4
Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of these irregular verbs in simple past tense.

1. I ____________________ (be) busy painting last night.

2. You____________________ (make) a good cake for his birthday.

3. We ____________________ (choose) to ride the train yesterday.

4. They ____________________ (fall) while skating together.

5. He ____________________ (keep) the profits for himself.

6. It ____________________ (ring) the bell on the birdhouse two times.  

7. She ____________________ (meet) her new coach on Monday.

8. Olivia________________ (get) the offer of the Hong Kong Secondary School.

9. Betty_________________ (win) the drawing competition in Hong Kong.

10. The plane ________________ (take) off from Hong Kong at 6 in the morning today.

11. Louie ___________________ (feel) painful when he fell off the stage.

12. Tom ______________ (lose) in the competition last summer.

13. Queenie ________________ (drink) 5 cans of coke just now.

14. Daniel ________________ (think) that he did a great job as the class prefect.

15. Coco _______________ (draw) a design for her first bag last year.

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Practice 5
Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of these irregular verbs in simple past tense.

1. I ____________________ (cut) the watermelon yesterday.

2. You ____________________ (shut) the door before it rained.  

3. We ____________________ (quit) watching the movie last night.  

4. They____________________ (hurt) their knees on the rocks.  

5. He ____________________ (put) the book back on Wednesday.  

6. She ____________________ (hit) the target when she played darts.  

7. He ____________________ (pay) five hundred dollars for his shirt.  

8. The children ______________ (say) they would finish their homework.  

9. We ____________ (teach) the kids how to play trick-or-treat on Halloween.  

10. Fishers ________________ (make) their own nets for fishing in the old times.  

11. Vivian _______________ (draw) a beautiful picture and ____________ (win) the

competition yesterday.  

12. I _____________ (go) camping with the scouts and ____________ (learn) a lot last week.  

13. Kelly ____________ (buy) a big teddy bear for her little sister as birthday present.

14. Jill ______________ (catch) his father smoking.  

15. Sandy ________________ (sit) on the couch petting her dog.

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Practice 15
Rewrite the following sentences in past continuous tense.
 
1. I slept yesterday.

I __________________________________________________________ at four o’clock

yesterday.

2. He studied Physics yesterday.

He ________________________________________________________ at two o’clock

yesterday.

3. Lucy read a novel yesterday.

Lucy_______________________________________________________ at five o’clock

yesterday.

4. Jim worked in the office yesterday.

Jim ________________________________________________________ at six o’clock

yesterday.

5. They ate chocolate yesterday.

They _______________________________________________________ at ten o’clock

yesterday.

6. We watched TV yesterday.

We ________________________________________________________ at one o’clock

yesterday.

7. Mr Ford did not talk to Miss Jones yesterday.

Mr Ford ____________________________________________________ at three o’clock

yesterday.

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Practice 16
Complete the following passages using words in brackets with the correct tense.
 

. Was Columbus really the first explorer to discover the America? Thor Heyerdahl

1. (say) no. He 2. (believe) that ancient people 3. (have)

the ability to build boats that could cross oceans. He 4._____ ___ (decide) to build a

copy of the reed boats that were pictured by ancient people to test his ideas. Then, he

5. (use) this boat to sail from North Africa to Barbados across the Atlantic.

Also, his team 6. (copy) ancient Middle Eastern pots and 7. (fill)

them with food for the trip. The first trip 8 (fail) but everyone

9. (survive) and 10. (want) to try again. They

11.____ ____ (make) another copy of the reed boat. On 17 May 1970, their boat

12. (depart) and 13. (cross) the Atlantic in 57 days. This

14. (prove) that ancient people were able to reach America before

Columbus.

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Practice 17
Rewrite the following sentences in question form with the given WH words in past continuous

tense.

1. Judy / tidy / her room. (When)

_____________________________________________________________________________

2. Nate / go (Where)

_____________________________________________________________________________

3. The pupils / write / in the test (What)

_____________________________________________________________________________

4. The baby / cry (Why)

_____________________________________________________________________________

5. Susie and Jason / sell (What)

_____________________________________________________________________________

6. You / speak / with. (Who)

_____________________________________________________________________________

7. Miss Wong / think / about / the project (What)

____________________________________________________________________________

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Practice 18

Rewrite the following sentences in past continuous tense using the given nouns.

1. He was playing basketball yesterday afternoon.

We ____________________________________________________________.

2. They were cooking dinner last night at seven.

She ____________________________________________________________.

3. I was having breakfast when the bell suddenly rang.

We ____________________________________________________________.

4. They were talking loudly when the accident happened.

He ____________________________________________________________.

5. Ben and I were washing the car.

I ____________________________________________________________.

6. My brother was feeding the birds.

My brother and I ____________________________________________________________.

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Practice 27

Fill in the blanks using present tense or past tense.

In the 1980’s, computers 1.____________________(be) introduced and technology

2.____________________(change) a great deal. The first computers

3.____________________(be) simple machines for basic tasks which

4.____________________(do) not have lots of memory. They 5.____________________(be)

quite expensive and people 6.____________________(pay) a few thousands for computers

that could not 7.____________________(work) very little. Time changes and computers

8.____________________(become) powerful for practical applications in nowadays world.

People 9.____________________(create) a lot of useful programs that do different tasks. We

can also play games, get on the internet and communicate with people using computers. They

make our life so much convenient!

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Practice 28
Fill in the blanks using simple past tense, past continuous tense or present tense.

1. James ________ (live) in England last year but he ________ (not live) in London now.

2. I ________ (get) full mark in my last Chinese test so my mother ________ (be) very happy.

3. The boss ________ (punish) me yesterday because I ________ (be) late.

4. The principal ________ (send) Ken to the medic this morning because he ________ (fall) off
the stairs when he ________ (go) upstairs.

5. Tom ________ (like) playing sports. He ________ (be) a member of the school swimming
team until he ________ (hurt) his elbow.

6. Leo ________ (enjoy) playing violin so much and he ________ (sell) his car to get this
beautiful violin.

7. His acting career ________ (begin) because the accident ________ (give) him a chance to join
the drama club.

8. She ________ (act) in the film that we ________ (watch) when we ________ (date). She
________ (be) still an actress.

9. ________ you ________ (have) a good time with Joey Yung last night?

10. I ________ (need) to contact her today because I am not going to be free later.

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Practice 29
Fill in the blanks using simple past tense, past continuous tense or present tense.

Kim is my best friend. She is always well prepared and on time, but Kim

1. ____________________(not be) her usual self last Sunday.

She 2. ____________________(get) up very early to go picnic with me, but it

3.____________________ (rain) when she 4. ____________________ (leave) her apartment .

So she 5.____________________(go) back to her flat to get an umbrella, yet the elevator

6.____________________(be) out of order. Kim 7.____________________(climb) ten floors

to get back to her place when the rain 8. ____________________ (stop). Then she went

downstairs. By the time she 9.____________________(reach) the ground floor, it

10.____________________(begin) raining again. She 11.____________________(be)

exhausted and she 12. ____________________ (decide) she would just

13. ____________________ (go) without an umbrella. She 14. ____________________

(arrive) at the picnic site an hour late when I 15. ____________________ (set) up everything.

Now, she 16.____________________ (have) an umbrella wherever shem17.

____________________ (go)!

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Practice 30
Choose and circle the correct answers

1. We (arrived / were arriving) in San Francisco two weeks ago.

2. I (was telling / tell) him to stay at home when the weather is bad.

3. Sam (gets / got) a new schoolbag from his mother in 2012.

4. It (took /was taking) ten months for Jean to finish a painting but it (took /was taking) him 1
week only to finish a statue!

5. Last night, we (discuss / discussed) our holiday plans.

6. Helen (was having / had) a haircut yesterday morning while all of us (waited/ were waiting)
for her in the salon.

7. My sister (cut / cuts) her finger when she (cooks/was cooking) last Sunday.

8. Mr Wong (received / receives) a call from his daughter this morning.

9. By the time she (finished/was finishing) her work, other people (had/ were having) dinner.

10. The children (cheered/ was cheering) for their home teams and (clapped/ clap) their hands
when the teams (were scoring/scored).

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