Past tenses Practice

Choose the right form of the verb in brackets:

1) I _______bought____ (buy) this car in January.

2) I had _____finished___________ (finish) high
school when the Great Depression
______struck________ (strike) the country.
3) We _____were taking_______ (take) a walk in
the park when a heavy thunderstorm suddenly
_____broke out_______ (break) out.
4) When I finally ______woke ________ (wake) up,
the clock radio ____had been blaring__________
(blare) for a good couple of hours.
5) Butch ____sniffed______ (sniff) the plate and ____woofed________ (woof). He ____was
trembling_________ (tremble)with anticipation.
6) I ____bought______ (buy) a diamond ring for my future wife yesterday.
7) I ______was waiting_____________ (wait) for half an hour when she finally
_______arrived_________ (arrive).
8) The car ______serviced_______ (service) before it was ______sold_______ (sell).
9) Condensed milk ________have produced________ (produce) in America since the mid
1850s.
10) She ______had already left____________ (already, leave) when I ________came______
(come).
11) I _______was talking___________ (talk) on the phone when she ______ran_________
(run) into the room.
12) I _______was________ (be) at work yesterday.
13) Her hair _______was______ (be) wet, she _______had been swimming___ (swim).
14) I ____was eating_________ (eat) frogs when I _____was__________ (be) in France.
15) He ________had repaired___________ (repair) the car during the whole week before he
_____decided________ (decide) to ask me to help him.
16) I ________did________ (do) homework at 5 o'clock yesterday.
17) While I ____was writing_________ (write) a letter, my father was looking through the
newspaper.
18) The Jurassic period ________had lasted______ (last) about 62 million years.
19) I _______didn’t know________ (not, know) who he ______was___ (be). I
______saw__________ (see) him before.
20) He ______________ (write) the letter, ________________ (put) it in the envelope,
______________ (leave) it on the table and ______________ (go) out.
21) The house _____________ (be) dirty. They _______________ (clean it for weeks.
22) He _______________ (know) that she ________________ (work) in this company for five
years.

KEYS:
1) Bought
2) Finished, struck
3) Were taking, broke
4) Woke, had been blaring
5) Sniffed, woofed, was trembling
6) Bought
7) Had been waiting, arrived
8) Had been serviced, sold
9) Had been being produced
10) Had left, came
11) Was talking, ran
12) Was
13) Was, had been swimming
14) Ate, was
15) Had been repairing, decided
16) Was doing
17) Was writing, was looking
18) Lasted
19) Didn’t know, was, had never seen
20) Wrote, put, left, went
21) Was, hadn’t cleaned
22) Knew, had worked