SUBJECT : Simple Past Tense

A) Fill in the blanks with a verb from the box in the SIMPLE PAST:

break swim have make sit write

spend buy drink lose wash

1. She made.....a cake an hour ago.

2. She bought a hat last week.
3. The boy wrote.......a letter yesterday.
4. They swam.....in the sea for an hour.
5. They drank....a lot of Coke last night.
6. She broke.....her arm last week.
7. He spent........all his money last week.
8. She took........a bath two minutes ago.
9. He lost..........his wallet last night.
10. She sat..........on the old chair a minute ago.
11. She washed. .the clothes yesterday.
B) Fill in the blanks with the SIMPLE PAST of the verbs in brackets:
Last Saturday my father took (take) my friends and me to the circus. We saw
(see) lots of things. My father bought (buy) us some popcorn and orange juice. We
ate (eat) the popcorn and drank (drink) the orange juice. We laughed (laugh) at the
funny clowns. There was (be) a lion-tamer. The lions did (do) tricks; they jumped
(jump) through hoops. A girl rode (ride) an elephant around the ring. We all had
(have) a wonderful time.
C) Write what Jean DID or DIDN’T do yesterday:

1. go shopping ( - ) Jean didn’t go shopping yesterday.

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2. clean the house ( + ) Jean cleaned the house yesterday.
3. feed the cat ( + ) Jean fed the cat.
4. telephone Mary ( - ) Jean didn’t telephone Mary.
5. watch a film on TV ( - ) Jean didn’t watch a film on TV.
6. visit her grandparents ( + ) Jean visited her grandparents.
7. take them a cake ( + ) Jean took them a cake.

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D) Fill in the blanks with the PAST form of the verbs:

Benjamin Franklin was born (be born) in Boston in 1706. He was (be) the
fifteenth of the seventeen children of a poor candlemaker. He went (go) to school
only one year. He began (begin) to work when he was twelve. At the age of
fourteen he decided (decide) to be a writer. He copied (copy) the great stories of
famous writers and later he became (become) the best-known writer in his time.

When he was (be) seventeen, he left (leave) Boston and arrived (arrive) in
Philadelphia with only a few pennies in his pocket. He got (get) a job as a
publisher of a newspaper and retired (retire) from business as a very rich man at
forty-two. Then he spent (spend) the next forty years for his government. He
played (play) an important role in the founding of the USA.

Franklin was (be) also an important scientist and inventor. He drew (draw)
electricity from a cloud on a kite string. He wrote (write) one of the first textbooks
on electricity. He invented (invent) a simple lightning rod and many other
practical tools. He made (make) a study of water and discovered (discover)
many principles of hydrodynamics. He even invented (invent) bifocal glasses
when he was seventy-eight and needed (need) them himself.

Franklin did (do) all these things and many more because he believed
(believe) he could (can).

E) Read the following story:

Bob is a young sailor. He lives in England, but he is often assway with his ship.

One summer he comes back from a long voyage and finds new neighbors near
his mother’s house. They have a pretty daughter, and Bob soon loves her and he
wants to marry her when he comes back. Bob promises the girl to send a present
from every port.

Bob’s first port is Capetown in Africa, and he sends the girl a parrot from
there. The parrot speaks three languages. When Bob’s ship reaches Australia, a
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letter comes from the girl. The letter says, “Thank you for the parrot, Bob. It
tasted much better than a chicken.”

a) Write the story again. Use THE SIMPLE PAST:

Bob was a young sailor. He lived in England, but he was often away with his
ship.

Bob was a young sailor. He lived in England, but he was often away with his ship.
One summer he came back from a long voyage and found new neighbors near his
mother’s house. They had a pretty daughter, and Bob soon loved her and wanted to
marry her when he came back. Bob promised the girl that he would send a present
from every port. Bob’s first port was Capetown in Africa, and he sent the girl a
parrot from there. The parrot spoke three languages. When Bob’s ship reached
Australia, a letter came from the girl. The letter said, “Thank you for the parrot,
Bob. It tasted much better than a chicken.”

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 b.Answer the questions about the story:

1. What was Bob?

He was a young sailor.

2. What change did he find when he was back home?

He found new neighbors near his mother’s house.

3. How was their daughter?

She was pretty.

4. How did Bob feel about the girl?

Bob soon loved her and wanted to marry her.

5. What did Bob tell the girl?

Bob promised to send a present from every port.

6. What did Bob send the girl from Capetown?

He sent her a parrot.

7. Where is Capetown?
Capetown is in Africa.

8. How many languages did the parrot speak?

The parrot spoke three languages.

9. What did the girl do with the parrot?

The girl mentioned in her letter that the parrot tasted much better than a
chicken.

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 F) Rewrite the sentences using the word and signs in parenthesis:

Nº Frase original Reescritura

1 We ate lunch at the cafeteria last night.
2 (he) (-) He didn’t eat lunch at the cafeteria last night.
3 (he) (yesterday) (?) Did he eat lunch at the cafeteria yesterday?
4 (study in the library) (-?) He didn’t study in the library yesterday.
5 (we) (-) We didn’t play tennis.
6 (play tennis) (+) We played tennis.
7 (I) (-) I didn’t get a present.
8 (get a present) (+) I got a present.
9 (you) (-?) Didn’t you go shopping?
10 (go shopping) (?) Did you go shopping last week?
11 (last week) (-) You didn’t go shopping last week.
12 (she) (+) She stayed home.

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13 (stay home) (?) Did she stay home?
14 (last night) (-?) She didn’t stay home last night.
15 (they) (-) They didn’t get into trouble.
16 (get into trouble) (+) They got into trouble.
17 (you) (?) Did you see him?
18 (see him) (-?) You didn’t see him yesterday afternoon.
19 (yesterday afternoon) (?) Did you see him yesterday afternoon?
20 (see him) (+) You saw him yesterday afternoon.

SUBJECT : Simple Past and Past Continuous

A) Fill in the blanks with a correct form of PAST CONTINUOUS:

1. Alice hurt herself while she was skating.
2. I met my neighbor while I was walking home from work.
3. Sally saw a friend while she was riding her bicycle along Park St.
4. Peter fell asleep while he was studying.
5. Bob stepped on Jane’s feet while they were dancing together.
6. I cut myself while I was shaving.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Brown burned themselves while they were baking cookies.
8. Tommy had a nightmare while he was sleeping at a friend’s house..

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B) How did it happen?

1. How did Alice hurt herself? (play soccer)

She hurt herself while she was playing soccer.
2. How did Martin burn himself? (iron his clothes)
He burned himself while he was ironing his clothes.
3. How did Helen cut herself? (slice onions)6666
She cut herself while she was slicing onions.
4. How did Jennifer meet her husband? (fix a flat tire)
She met her husband while she was fixing a flat tire.
5. How did Marvin break his arm? (skate)
He broke his arm while he was skating.
6. How did you lose your wallet? (ride my bicycle)
I lost my wallet while I was riding my bicycle.
7. How did Jeff meet his wife? (swim at the beach)
He met his wife while he was swimming at the beach.
8. How did Bob get a black eye? (fight with his brother)
He got a black eye while he was fighting with his brother.
9. How did your children burn themselves? (make breakfast)
They burned themselves while they were making breakfast.
10. How did Martha fall? (dance)
She fell while she was dancing.

C) What’s the matter?

What was he / she What What’s the

doing? happened? result?
Tina ice-skate fall on the ice break foot
Jack play football kick the goalpost break leg

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 Bob cycle fall off the bike injure hand
Ann skate fall over break arm
Alice dance trip over the sprain ankle
carpet

Make dialogues as in the example:

Example: You: Hi, Tina! What’s the matter with your foot?
Tina : I broke it.
You : How did it happen?
Tina : I fell on the ice while I was ice-skating.

1.
You: Hi, Jack! What’s the matter with your leg?
Jack: I broke it.
You: How did it happen?
Jack: I kicked the goalpost while I was playing football.

2.
You: Hi, Bob! What’s the matter with your hand?
Bob: I injured it.
You: How did it happen?
Bob: I fell off my bike while I was cycling.

3.
You: Hi, Ann! What’s the matter with your arm?
Ann: I broke it.
You: How did it happen?
Ann: I fell over while I was skating.

4.
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 You: Hi, Alice! What’s the matter with your ankle?
Alice: I sprained it.
You: How did it happen?
Alice: I tripped over the carpet while I was dancing.

D) Fill in the blanks with a correct form, the PAST SIMPLE or the PAST
CONTINUOUS:
1. He was talking with Mary when Mrs. Smith came in.
2. They studied two hours last night.
3. Jane was sleeping when the telephone rang.
4. As I was walking to the lab, I met my friend.
5. We watched TV last night.
6. The customer was paying his cheque when he dropped his credit card.
7. The barber cut my hair yesterday.
8. She was dancing when she hurt her ankle.
9. It was raining hard when I got up.
10. It rained hard last night.

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 A) Complete the sentences with the words in parentheses using the
SIMPLE PAST or the PAST PROGRESSIVE:

1. Sally was eating dinner last night when someone knocked on the door.
2. I began to study at seven last night. Fred came at seven-thirty. I was studying
when Fred came.
3. While I was studying last night, Fred dropped by to visit me.
4. My roommate’s parents called him last night while we were watching TV.
5. My mother called me around five. My husband came home a little after five.
When he came home, I was talking to my mother on the phone.
6. Yesterday Tom and Janice went to the zoo around one. They saw many kinds of
animals. They stayed at the zoo for two hours. While they were walking home,
it began to rain, so they stopped at a small café and had a cup of coffee.
7. Yesterday afternoon I went to visit the Parker family. When I got there around
two o’clock, Mrs. Parker was in the yard. She was planting flowers in her
garden. Mr. Parker was in the garage. He was working on their car. He was
changing the oil.

E) What’s the question?

how what where

how long what kind of who

how many when why

1. Who did you visit? I visited my cousin.
2. What did you talk about? We talked about my job.
3. Where did she go? She went to the beach.
4. Who did she meet? She met her friend.
5. What language did they speak? They spoke Russian.
6. Where did they swim? They swam in the ocean.

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7. When did he have dinner? He had dinner at 8:00.
8. What did you bake? I baked an apple pie.
9. Why did she cry? She cried because her dog ran away.
10. How long did you stay? I stayed for a week.
11. How did you come home? I came home by train.
12. How many hamburgers did he eat? He ate three hamburgers.
13. When did he leave the restaurant? He left the restaurant at 9:00.
14. Who did she write a letter to? She wrote a letter to her mother.
15. How long did they study? They studied all morning.
16. What did you take a lot of? We took a lot of photographs.
17. Who did you send a postcard to? We sent a postcard to our teacher.
18. When did he fall asleep? He fell asleep during the lecture.
19. When did you lose your wallet? I lost my wallet while I was skating.
20. Why did they cover their eyes? They covered their eyes because they were scared.

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