Past Tense Simple and Past Continuous
Answer Key Below
Below you can find the answers to "Past Tense Simple and Past Continuous" -- just scroll down and find which ones you got wrong. Then you can explore the rest of the site.
- While we _______, we ________a horrible accident. (drive, see)
- were driving - saw
- was driving - saw
- drove - saw
- drived - were seeing
- Remember: 'While' explains what was happening when something else happened. It uses verb+ing.
- I ______ a terrible dream last night. (have)
- was having
- am having
- had
- have
- Pay attention to the signal word 'last night.' It is about past simple.
- He ________ to see his grandmother yesterday. (go)
- was going
- goed
- goes
- went
- Pay attention to the signal word 'yesterday.' It is about past simple.
- I ______ very hard last night. (work)
- was working
- worked
- works
- always work
- I ________ when someone ________my lunchbox yesterday. (play - steal)
- am playing - was stealing
- was playing - stole
- played - stole
- was playing - was stole
- Susan _______ lunch when someone _______ the doorbell. (have, ring)
- prepared - was ringing
- was prepareing - rang
- was preparing - ringed
- was preparing - rang
- Last year, I _______ to do a lot of research while I _____ on my project. (have - work)
- was having - worked
- had - was working
- am having - worked
- had - am working
- We ______ in New York last year. (be)
- were
- would be
- are
- was
- Ahmed ______ hurt while he ______ football. (get - play)
- was getting - played
- got - played
- got - was playing
- was getting - was playing
- While Natasha _______ an apple, she _____ her finger. (cut - cut)
- was cutting - cut
- cutted - cutted
- cut - was cutting
- cut - cut
- While she _______, she _____her wallet. (shop - lose)
- shopping - lost
- was shoping - lost
- shopped - was losing
- was shopping - lost
- Yesterday at 7 o'clock, Abdulla ______ a movie. (watch)
- watched
- was watching
- watch
- watches
- Whenever you point to an action that was taking place at a certain time (at ... o'clock), you use past continuous.
- Our car _______ down and we ______ to walk home. (break - have)
- break - walk
- was breaking - walked
- broke - were having
- broke - had
- Two actions in the past that happened one after the other.
- I ______ a plate while I _______ Mum in the kitchen. (break - help)
- broke - was helping
- was breaking - helped
- broke - helped
- breaked - helped
- While it ________ heavily outside, I _______ in my car. (rain - sit)
- was raining - sat
- rained - sat
- rained - was sitting
- was raining - sitted
