Simple Past vs. Past Continuous

Master Past Simple vs. Past Continuous! Practice verb tenses for clear storytelling.

A Fill in the blanks with a correct form of Past Continuous 1 Alice hurt herself while she was skating(skate).2 I met my neighbour while I was walking(walk) home from work.3 Sally saw a friend while she was riding(ride) her bicycle along Park Street.4 Peter fell asleep while he was studying (study).5 Bob stepped on Jane's feet while they were dancing (dance) together.6 I cut myself while I was shaving (shave).7 Mr and Mrs Brown burned themselves while they were baking (bake) cookies.8 Tommy had a nightmare while he was sleeping (sleep) at a friend's house. B How did it happen? Answer the following 9 questions with verbs in brackets in Past Continuous. Look at the example How did Alice hurt herself? (play soccer)She hurt herself while she was playing soccer. 1 How did Martin burn himself? (iron his clothes) 2 How did Helen cut herself? (slice onions) 3 How did Jennifer meet her husband? (fix a flat tire) 4 How did Marvin break his arm? (skate) 5 How did you lose your wallet? (ride my bicycle) 6 How did Jeff meet his wife? (swim at the beach) 7 How did Bob get a black eye? (fight with his brother) 8 How did your children burn themselves? (make breakfast) 9 How did Martha fall? (dance) Look at the table and make dialogues as in the example C 1) Dialogue with Jack: C 2) Dialogue with Bob: C 3) Dialogue with Ann: C 4) Dialogue with Alice: D Fill in the blanks with a correct form, Past Simple or Past Continuous 1 He was talking(talk) with Mary, when Mrs Smith came in.2 They studied (study) for two hours last night.3 Jane was sleeping(sleep) when the phone rang.4 As I was walking (walk) to the lab, I met my friend.5 We were watching (watch) TV last night.6 The customer was paying (pay) his bill when he dropped his credit card.7 The hairdresser cut (cut) my hair too short yesterday.8 She was dancing (dance) when she hurt her ankle.9 It was raining (rain) hard when I got up.10 It rained (rain) hard last night. E Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets in Past Simple or Past Continuous 1 Sally was eating (eat) dinner last night when someone knocked (knock) on the door.2 I began to study at seven last night. Fred came (come) at seven-thirty. I was studying (study) when Fred came (come).3 While I was studying (study) last night, Fred dropped by (drop by) to visit me.4 My roommate's parents called (call) him last night while we were watching (watch) TV.5 My mother called me around five. My husband came home a little after five. When he came (come) home, I was talking (talk) to my mother on the phone.6 Yesterday Tom and Janice went (go) to the zoo around. They saw (see) many kinds of animals. They stayed at the zoo for two hours. While they were walking (walk) home, it began (begin) to rain, so they stopped (stop) at a small cafe and had (have) a cup of coffee.7 Yesterday afternoon I went (go) to visit the Parker family. When I got (get) there around two o'clock, Mrs. Parker was (be) in the yard. She was planting (plant) flowers in her garden. Mr. Parker was (be) in the garage. He was working (work) on their car. He was changing (change) the oil. F Fill in the blanks with the correct form of Past Continuous 1 It was very cold. The sun was not shining (not shine).2 It wasn't a stormy night. The wind was not blowing (not blow).3 He wasn't sleeping. He was looking (look) at the ceiling.4 They were having a rest. They were not working (not work).5 They were very happy. They were enjoying (enjoy) the party.6 He was at home. He was watching(watch) a movie on TV.7 He was getting worse. He was not recovering (not recover).8 We were travelling (travel) in the north of Turkey when we were on holiday.9 She was driving (drive) so fast when the accident happened.10 I was not sleeping (sleep) when you came in. G Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets in Past Simple or Past Continuous 1 While they were travelling (travel) to China, Marco was keeping (keep) a diary.2 Mrs. White was driving(drive) past a house in Main Street when she saw(see) the ground floor on fire.3 While he was flying (fly) off the Miami Coast, the pilot saw (see) sharks approaching swimmers.4 The fireman was fighting (fight) fire on a balcony below when he heard (hear) someone's shouts.5 She was crying (cry) while she was running (run) after a bus.6 We were having (have) dinner when the electricity went (go) off.7 She was thinking (think) of something else while you were talking (talk) to her.8 I saw (see) her while I was looking (look) out the window,9 While the teacher was talking (talk), the students were looking (look) at an insect on the ceiling.