4 OPTIMISE YOUR GRAMMAR | Standard A2

Past continuous, linking words 2 my dad / fall asleep / while / he / lie / in the sun

1 Complete the sentences using the positive 3 what / children / do / when / you / left / the
or negative past continuous form of the house?
verbs in brackets. 
What was happening at 2:00 pm on the beach 4 while / she / talk / to the class / the lights / go
yesterday? out
1 It was warm and it              
(rain). ✗
5 we / meet / some interesting people / while /
2 Some children              (play) we / travel / in Portugal
football. ✓

3 Two women              (buy) ice
creams. ✓
4 They              (have) a picnic. ✗ Unit round-up
5 A little boy              (cry) 5 Choose the best answer (A, B or C) to fill
because a dog ate his ice cream. ✓
each gap.
2 Match to make sentences.
Our school trip
1 Everyone was happy because   
Every year in June, there is a school trip. We usually
2 A boy shouted when   
go somewhere in the UK, (1)    last year we
3 We stayed in the hotel because    went to Slovenia. We didn’t go by plane (2)    the
4 We were cold and tired but    flights were really expensive. We went by bus. We
5 Some people were talking and    left London at midday on Thursday (3)    arrived
in the capital, Ljubljana, on Friday afternoon.
a) having a good time. We took a boat across the sea and then we drove
b) we still went to the party. through France, Germany and Austria. While we
(4)    , we sang songs and watched some really
c) it was raining outside.
cool films.
d) they were going on holiday.
When we arrived in Ljubljana, it was sunny and
e) he saw a snake on the path. thousands of tourists (5)    in the Old Town. It
was so beautiful. After two days in the capital, we
Past simple and past continuous (6)    a bus to a small village called Kostanjevica
na Krki in the east of the country. We stayed in
3 Complete the sentences with the verbs in the local school and took trips to the mountains
with local students. One day, while we (7)    in
the box.
the forest, I was scared (8)    I thought I heard
arrived | broke | lost | started | was shining a bear. Slovenia is an amazing country and
the people were so friendly. I really want to go
was skiing | was visiting | were eating
back there.
were playing | woke up

1 We              tennis in the garden 1 A because B but C and

when it              raining. 2 A and B because C but
2 Matt              his leg when 3 A but B and C because
he              .
4 A were travelling B travelled C was travelling
3 Glenn              Canada when
5 A walked B were walking C walking
he              his passport.
6 A took B was taking C were taking
4 We              dinner when our
cousins              . 7 A walked B was walking C were walking
5 The sun              when we 8 A and B but C because
             this morning.

4 Use the prompts to write sentences using

the past simple and past continuous in
every sentence.
1 we / cycle / by / the river / when / I / hear /
strange / noise


Optimise A2 Optimise A2 Teacher’s Resource Centre © Springer Nature Limited 2019.

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