Past simple / Past Continuous

1.-Complete the sentences. Use the past simple or the past continuous.

  1. She (read) ……………….. the newspaper when she saw the advert.

  2. At the interview they (no ask) ……………….. Tom many questions.

  3. Ellie (look) ……………….. at ten websites before she found an interesting job.

  4. What job (you have) ……………….. before?

  5. While Peter (explain) ……………….. his experience, someone knocked on the door.

  6. Iván (sit) ……………….... in class when he had the idea of going to London.

  7. She (not phone) ……………….... her friend last night.

  8. We (talk) ……………….... about you when you called.

  9. She arrived while they (eat) ……………….... lunch.

  10. How many jobs (Ben have) ……………….... last year?

2.-Fill in the blanks with Past tense or continuous.-

  1. “What ……………….……. (you/do) this time yesterday?” “I was asleep”

  2. “……. you……….. (go) out last night?” “No, I was too tired”

  3. How fast ………………… (you/ drive) when the accident……………. (happen)?

  4. When I last ……………… (see) Alan, he ………………… (try) to find a job.

  5. I ……………….. (walk) along the street when suddenly I ……………. (hear) footsteps behind me.

3.-Complete the sentences with the past simple or past continuous

1 I …................... (stand) in the bank when the robbers …................... (steal) the money.

2 The police …................... (arrest) him because he …................... (speed) in the city centre.

3 Julie’s friend …................... (arrive) when she …................... (talk) on the phone.

4 When I …................... (see) them on their bikes, they …................. (not wear) helmets.

5 Tom …................... (not listen) to the teacher so he …................... (not hear) the question.

6 The suspects …................... (try) to escape when they …................... (have) a car accident.

4.-Complete the text with the past simple or the past continuous.

My friends and I (1) ……................. (enjoy) my birthday party when suddenly the lights

(2) ……................. (go) out. I (3) ……................. (think) that my brother (4) ……................. (try) to scare everyone. I (5) ……................. (shout), ‘Switch the lights on!’ but nothing (6) ……................. (happen). While we (7) ……................. (wait) in the darkness, somebody (8) ……................. (scream). Suddenly, I felt scared.

5.-Complete the sentences with the past simple or past continuous of the verbs in brackets.-

I …………………. (listen) to some music in my room when I ………..…….. (hear) a loud bang in the street, so I ……………. (go)

outside to investigate. The weather was terrible. The wind …………..…….. (blow) hard and it …………………………. (rain) a lot.

Then I ……………. (see) what the problem was. A motorbike …………………………… (lie)on the ground next to a tree. Suddenly

somebody ………………… (say) “Please, help me” I …………………….(look) around and there was the motorbike rider, also on the ground.

Key to Past simple/ Past continuous.