ACLEDA Institute of Business Grammar Form and Function 2A

Department of English Lecturer: KONG Matta

Academic Year: 2017-2018
Answer Key

Complete the following sentences with the verb in brackets in the correct
form.
1. Were you playing the guitar yesterday? It was quite loud.
2. What was Ivan doing in the neighour’s yard?
3. Why were they arguing last night?
4. Was she writing her novel again last week?
5. Was Tanya hiking last weekend?
6. How long ago were you studying to become a lawyer?
7. I don't remember! was I walking the dog? or, was I washing the car when you
called?
8. Was Ron fixing the roof two days ago?
9. Where were Michal and Jim going when you saw them?
10. What was Cindy doing yesterday?
11. What were you doing yesterday?
12. Was he joking? That can’t be possible!
13. Were the kids behaving yesterday?
14. Where were you standing when you saw the accident happen?
15. Where Jen and Shawn cycling this weekend?
16. Were you shopping at Jarrod’s yesterday? I think I may have seen you.
17. Was Rob working on his project last weekend?
18. Were Stewart and Nick playing together in the forest again today?
19. Was Mark skiing while he was in the Alps?
20. I’m sorry. Were you having dinner? I’ll call back later.
Complete the sentences by putting the verbs in brackets ( ) into the Past
Continuous.
1. It was snowing when I left home this morning.
2. I tried to explain my problem to her, but she was not listening.
3. He was talking on the phone when I arrived.
4. I was living in London when I met them.
5. I nearly had an accident this morning. A car was coming towards me, but I moved
quickly out of the way.
6. At the end of the first half of the game, they were winning.
7. It was a sunny afternoon and people were sitting on the grass in the park. Then it
suddenly started to rain.
8. Which hotel were you staying in when you lost your passport?
 9. Fortunately, I was not driving too fast when the child walked into the road in
front of me.
10. I looked out of the window, and I saw that it was not raining any more.
Describe what the people in the picture were doing when Rick came into
the room. Use the correct verb from the box in the Past Continuous.
1. was eating
2. were playing
3. was watching
4. was sitting
5. was writing
6. was brushing
7. was listening
8. was painting
Past Tense—Simple or Progressive: Fill in the correct form.
1. George fell off the ladder while he was painting the ceiling.
2. Last night I was reading in bed when I suddenly heard a scream.
3. Were you watching TV when I phoned you?
4. Ann was waiting for me when I arrived.
5. Maisie was cleaning up the kitchen when John asked her to marry him.
6. The house cost $150,000 in 2003.
7. The fire was still burning at six in the morning.
8. My brother got a new job a week ago.
9. Columbus discovered America over 500 years ago.
10. She was not interested in the book because she did not understand it.
11. Were you at school yesterday?
12. We lived in a house near the sea last summer.
13. She could play the piano very well when she was young.
14. She left the office very early last night.
15. I met a friend while I was doing the shopping.
16. I was paying for my things when I heard someone call my name.
17. I turned around and saw Judy.
18. She was wearing a bright yellow dress when I saw her last year.
19. We decided to have a cup of tea.
20. While the waiter was picking up the pieces of glass, he cut his finger.
21. Then we left the café and said good bye.
22. I lit the fire at six and it was still burning brightly when Tom came in at seven.
23. My dog was walking along quietly when Mary’s Pekinese attacked him.
24. When I arrived, she was having lunch. She said she always had lunch at 12:30.
25. What did you think of his last book? I liked it a lot.
26. He suddenly realized that he was travelling in the wrong direction.
 27. He was playing guitar when someone opened the window and threw out a bucket
of water.
28. He did not allow us to go out in the boat yesterday because a strong win was
blowing.
29. The next day, as they knew that the police were looking for them, they hid the
coasts in the woods and went off in different directions.
30. When I came home, they were all sitting around a fire. Jack was doing a
crossword puzzle, Judy was knitting and the others were reading. Mother smiled
at me and said: “Come and sit down”.
True or False: Read each numbered sentence. Write T (True) or F
(False) for the statement that follow. Write a question mark (?) if there
is not enough information.
1 While Tanya was watching the Winter Olympics on TV, Mikael was shoveling
snow.
__F__ First Mikael finished shoveling snow. Then Tanya started watching
TV.
2 In this photo, I was putting on my boots.
__F__I was wearing boots in the photo.
3 At 5:00, they were drinking hot chocolate by the fire.
__T__We don’t know when they started drinking hot chocolate.
4 Last night, I was reading an article about skiing in Morocco.
__?__ I finished the article.
5 At 10:00, he drank a cup of coffee.
__T__ He finished the coffee.
6 It was snowing while she was taking the photograph.
__F__ First she took the photograph. Then it started to snow.
Complete: Mountain Sports Magazine (MS) interviewed the snowboarding
champion, Rosie Happ (RH). Complete the interview with the correct form
of the verbs in parentheses and with the short answers.
1 Were you expecting
2 wasn’t
3 was recovering
4 wasn’t performing
5 were…thinking
6 were waiting
 7 wasn’t thinking
8 were watching
9 were…snowboarding
10 was watching
11 (was) dreaming
12 Was…practicing
13 was
Edit: Read this journal entry. Find and correct eight mistakes in the use of
the past progressive. The first mistake is already corrected.

were

Tonight, Sheila and I was looking at some photographs from my snowboarding trip with

were

Fritz’s family last year. By the end of the evening, we ^ laughing like crazy. That was my first

experience on a snowboard, so the pictures were pretty embarrassing. In one shot, I was

coming was

came down the slope on my back. In another one, my board were falling out of the ski lift

took

while I was riding up the slope. Fritz was taking that picture from the lift entrance. Good

was not

thing he not standing right under me! Where was I when Fritz was falling down the slope? I

wasn’t carrying

guess I wasn’t carry my camera. It was amazing how fast Fritz’s girlfriend, Karyn, learned

was spending

that weekend. She was doing jumps by the second day. By that time, I spent a lot of time at

the ski cafe.

Simple past vs. past progressive
Directions: Use the simple past or the past progressive of the verbs in
parentheses.
1. was sitting
2. didn't want…….was raining
3. called…….wasn’t……. was studying
4. didn't hear …….was sleeping
5. was shinning…….was blowing…….were singing
6. were arguing…….walked
7. opened…….found
8. was reading…….fell…….closed…….tiptoed
9. was waiting
10. A: Did you hear
B: wasn’t listening…….was thinking
11. A: did you break
B: slipped…….was crossing
12. was she wearing
13. finally found…….was already…….chose…….sat…….walked…….stopped
14. was snowing…….was shining…….were shoveling…….was lying