ACLEDA Institute of Business Grammar Form and Function 2A

Department of English Lecturer: KMT

Academic Year: 2017-2018
Past Progressive
P
PRRA
R AC
A CT
C TIIIC
T CE
C E
E

Complete the following sentences with the verb in brackets in the correct
form.
1 ______
Were
you ______
playing
(play) the guitar yesterday? It was quite loud.
2 What ______
was Ivan ______
doing (do) in the neighour’s yard?
3 Why ______
were they ______
arguing (argue) last night?
4 ______
Was she ______
writing (write) her novel again last week?
5 ______
Was Tanya______
hiking (hike) last weekend?
6 How long ago ______
were you ______
studying (study) to become a lawyer?
7 I don’t remember! ______
Was I ______
walking (walk) the dog? or, ______
Was I ______
washing (wash)
the car when you called?
8 ______
Was Ron ______
fixing (fix) the roof two days ago?
9 Where ______
were Michal and Jim ______
going (go) when you saw them?
10 What ______
was Cindy ______
doing (do) yesterday?
11 What ______
were you ______
doing (do) yesterday?
12 ______
Was he______
joking (joke)? That can’t be possible!
behaving
13 ______
Were the kids ______ (behave) yesterday?
14 Where ______
were you ______
standing (stand) when you saw the accident happen?
15 ______
Were Jen and Shawn ______
cycling (cycle) this weekend?
shopping
16 ______
Were you ______ (shop) at Jarrod’s yesterday?
17 ______
Was Rob ______
working (work) on his project last weekend?
18 ______
Were Stewart and Nick ______
playing (play) together in the forest again today?
19 ______
Was Mark ______
skiing (ski) while he was in the Alps?
20 I’m sorry. ______
Were you ______
having (have) dinner? I’ll call back later.
Complete the sentences by putting the verbs in brackets ( ) into the Past
Continuous.
1. It ______________________
was snowing
(snow) when I left home this morning.
2. I tried to explain my problem to her, but she ______________________
was not listening

(not/listen).
3. He ______________________
was talking
(talk) on the phone when I arrived.
4. I ______________________
was living (live) in London when I met them.
5. I nearly had an accident this morning. A car ______________________
was coming
(come)
towards me, but I moved quickly out of the way.

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 6. At the end of the first half of the game, they ______________________
were winning
(win).
7. It was a sunny afternoon and people ______________________
were sitting (sit) on the
grass in the park. Then it suddenly started to rain.
8. Which hotel ______________________
were you staying (you/stay) in when you lost your
passport?
9. Fortunately, I ______________________
was not driving (not/ drive) 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

(not/rain) 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.

was writing

was eating was brushing

were playing was listening

was watching was painting

was sitting

Past Tense—Simple or Progressive: Fill in the correct form.

1. George _______________________
fell off the ladder while he
_______________________
was painting the ceiling. (fall, paint)
2. Last night I _______________________
was reading
in bed when I suddenly
_______________________
heard a scream. (read, hear)
3. _______________________
Were you watching
TV when I _______________________
phoned
you?
(you watch, phone)
4. Ann _______________________
was waiting
for me when I
_______________________
arrived (wait, arrive)

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5. Maisie _______________________
was cleaning up the kitchen when john
_______________________
asked her to marry him. (clean, ask)
6. The house _______________________
cost $150,000 in 2003. (cost)
7. The fire _______________________
was still burning at six in the morning. (still burn)
8. My brother _______________________
got a new job a week ago. (get)
9. Columbus _______________________
discovered America over 500 years ago. (discover)
10. she _______________________
was not interested in the book because she
_______________________
did not understand it. (be, not understand)
11. _______________________
Were you at school yesterday? (you be)
12. We _______________________
lived in a house near the sea last summer. (live)
13. She _______________________
could play the piano very well when she
_______________________
was young. (can play, be)
14. She _______________________
left the office very early last night. (leave)
15. I _______________________
met a friend while I _______________________
was doing

the shopping. (meet, do)

16. I _______________________
was paying for my things when I
_______________________
heard someone call my name. (pay, hear)
17. I _______________________
turned around and _______________________
saw

Judy. (turn, see)

18. She _______________________
was wearing a bright yellow dress when I
_______________________
saw her last year. (wear, see)
19. We _______________________
decided to have a cup of tea. (decide)
20. While the waiter _______________________
was picking up the pieces of glass, he
_______________________
cut his finger. (pick, cut)
21. Then we _______________________
left the café and
_______________________
said good bye. (leave, say)
22. I _______________________
lit the fire at six and it
_______________________
was still burning brightly when Tom came in at seven. (light, still
burn)
23. My dog _______________________
was walking along quietly when Mary’s Pekinese
_______________________
attacked him. (walk, attack)
24. When I _______________________
arrived she _______________________
was having

lunch. She said she always _______________________

had lunch at 12:30. (arrive,
have, have)
25. What _______________________
did you think of his last book? I
_______________________
liked it a lot. (you think, like)
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 realized
26. He suddenly _______________________ that he
_______________________
was traveling in the wrong direction. (realize, travel)
27. He _______________________
was playing guitar when someone
_______________________
opened the window and _______________________
threw
out a bucket of water. (play, open, throw)
28. He _______________________
did not allow us to go out in the boat yesterday because a
strong wind _______________________.
was blowing (not allow, blow)
29. The next day, as they _______________________
knew that the police
_______________________
were looking for them, they _______________________
hid

the coats in the woods and _______________________

went off in different
directions. (know, look, hide, go)
30. When I _______________________
came home they
_______________________
were 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”.
(come, sit, do, knit, read, smile)
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.
_____I
F was wearing boots in the photo.
3. At 5:00, they were drinking hot chocolate by the fire.
_____We
T 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.

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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.
MS: Congratulations! You just became a semi-finalist for the Olympic snowboarding team.
___________
Were
you (1) ______________________
expecting
(expect) to get this far in the
competition?
RH: No, I (2) ___________.
wasn’t
During the trials, I (3) ______________________
was recovering

(recover) from a bad cold. By the last day, I (4) ______________________

was not performing (not
perform) very well. That’s what I thought, anyway.
MS: What ___________
did you (5) ______________________
think (think) while you (6)
______________________
were waiting (wait) for the announcement?
RH: Actually, I (7) ______________________
was not thinking (not think) about the competition at all.
Some friends and I (8) ______________________
were watching (watch) a movie.
MS: You’re pretty new to this sport. Where ___________
were you (9)
______________________
snowboarding (snowboard) at this time last year?
RH: In Switzerland. I (10) ______________________
was watching (watch) Barrett Christie and (11)
______________________
dreaming (dream) about being that good.
MS: ___________
Was he (12) ______________________
practicing (practice) for the Olympics at
that time?
RH: Yes, he (13) ___________.
was And he was amazing.
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the ski cafe.

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Simple past vs. past progressive
Directions: Use the simple past or the past progressive of the verbs in
parentheses.
1. I am sitting in the class right now. I (sit) _________________
was sitting in class at this
exact same time yesterday.
2. I don’t want to go to the zoo today because it is raining. The same thing happened
yesterday. I (want, not) _________________
did not want to go to the zoo because it (rain)
_________________.
was raining

3. I (call) _________________
called Roger at nine last night, but he (be, not)
_________________
was not at home. He (study) _________________
was studying at the library.
4. I (hear, not) _________________
did not hear the thunder during the storm last night
because I (sleep) _________________.
was sleeping

5. It was beautiful yesterday when we went for a walk in the park. The sun (shine)
_________________.
was shinning A cool breeze (blow) _________________.
was blowing The bird
(sing) _________________.
was singing

6. My brother and sister (argue) _________________

were arguing about something when I
(walk) _________________
walked into the room.
7. I got a package in the mail. When I (open) _________________
opened it, I (find)
_________________
found a surprise.
8. While Mrs. Emerson (read) _________________
was reading the little boy a story, he (fall)
_________________
fell asleep, so she (close) _________________
closed the book and
quietly (tiptoe) _________________
tiptoed out of the room.
9. A: Why weren’t you at the meeting?
B: I (wait) _________________
was waiting for an overseas call from my family.
10. A: (you, hear) _________________
Did you hear what she just said?
B: No, I (listen, not) _________________.
was not listening I (think) _________________
was thinking

about something else.

11. A: How (you, break) _________________
did you break your arm?
B: I (slip) _________________
slipped on the ice while I (cross) _________________
was crossing

the street in front of the dorm.

12. A: I’m sure you met Carol Jones at the party last night.
B: I don’t remember her. What (she, wear) _________________?
was she wearing

13. It was my first day of class. I (find, finally) _________________

finally found the right room.
The room (be, already) _________________
was already full of students. On one side of the
room, students (talk, busily) _________________
were busily talking to each other in Spanish. Other
students (speak) _________________
were speaking Japanese, and some (converse)
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 _________________
were conversing in Arabic. It sounded like the United Nations. Some of the
students, however, (sit, just) _________________
were just sitting quietly by themselves. I
(choose) _________________
chose an empty seat in the last row and (sit)
_________________
sat down. In a few minutes, the teacher (walk)
_________________
walked into the room and all the multilingual conversation (stop)
_________________.
stopped

14. I really enjoyed my vacation last January. While it (snow) _________________

was snowing in
Toronto, the sun (shine) _________________
was shining in Florida. While you (shovel)
_________________
were shoveling snow it Iowa, I (lie) _________________
was lying on the beach
in Florida.