Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997
5 The past simple: He was late for work. He arrived at 9.15
Quick reference
• We use the past simple of the verb be (was/were) to talk about a past situation.
It was cold yesterday. The shops were closed.
Affirmative
He was
They were
Negative
He wasn’t
They weren’t
Question
Was he?
Were they?
• We use the past simple of regular and irregular verbs to talk about something that happened and finished at a particular moment in the past, a completed action. We usually say or know when the action happened.
I left school in 1995. He died on Friday. The programme started ten minutes ago.
• Often we don’t say when something happened. It is understood.
Amy went to a party yesterday. She met Tim, and Rick was there too. She danced with him all night.
We also use the past simple to describe:
• something that happened regularly or continually in the past.
He caught the bus every morning at 8.10. She smoked 20 cigarettes a day.
• a situation that existed in the past over a period of time, not just at one lixed moment.
They lived in an old farm house. She had four children.
• The forms of the past simple:
Note the short answers. Did he go? - No he didn't.
1 Odd records. Complete the sentences with verbs in the past simple. Choose from:
get on
eat
speak
ride
have
sit
1 A Russian woman, Feodor Vassiina (1707-1782) ... 69 children.
2 In 1993 Steve Meltzer of Brooklyn, New York ... 96 sausages in 6 minutes.
3 In 1982-83 Timothy Roy ... in a tree in California for 431 days non-stop.
4 University lecturer Kapila Kumarasinghe ... non-stop about Buddhism for 159 hours.
5 16 people ... the same bicycle and ... it for 50 metres in Tokyo in 1979.
2 Ann Miller went on a business trip to Canada last week. Complete the questions and her answers.
Example: weather/good? Yes Was the weather good? Yes, it was.
1 flight/OK? ... Yes, ...
2 weather/hot? ... No, ...
3 meetings/useful? ... Yes, ...
4 food/good? .... Yes, ...
5 things/expensive? ... No, ...
6 the trip/successful? ... Yes, ...
3 Complete this newspaper story with verbs in the past simple. Choose from these verbs:
not know
lose
ring
steal
make
go
be (x2)
get
understand
say
take
have
On Tuesday last week Mrs Hilary Fox (1) ... her purse while on a shopping trip. When she (2) ... home the telephone (3) ... . The man at the other end (4) ... he (5) ... the manager of a local supermarket and he (6) ... her purse. She immediately (7) ... back to the supermarket. But the manager (8) ... anything about her purse. But half an hour later she (9) ... the reason - the same thief who (10) ... her purse (11) ... the phone call. Then, while she (12) ... at the supermarket, he (13) ... the opportunity to steal everything in her flat as well as her purse.
4 The mother of a teenage boy is complaining about her son. Complete what she says.
1 He loses a lot of things. Last week he ... his watch and a jacket.
2 He does very little homework. Last night he ... any.
3 He sleeps most of the day. Last Sunday morning he ... till midday.
4 He spends all his money on clothes. Last month he ... over S100.
5 He goes out a lot. Last week he ... out every evening.
6 And he always comes home late. Last Saturday night he ... till 3 a.m.
7 He leaves his room in a terrible mess. Yesterday he ... all his clothes on the floor.
8 He eats a lot. Yesterday he ... a whole loaf of bread when he came home.
5 Rob Howell lived for a year in Spain. Complete the questions for his answers.
1 When ...? - I went in August.
2 Where ...? - I lived in Barcelona.
3 ...? - Yes, I got a job as an English teacher.
4 How ...? - I found it through a friend.
5 Who ...? - I taught groups of teenagers.
6 ...? - No, it wasn’t well paid.
6 Read this newspaper story. Look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are correct and some have a mistake. If a line is correct put a tick (✓) after it. If a line has a mistake in it, underline the mistake and write the correction in the brackets.
Carl Harris was in Brixton prison, London. He works in the prison kitchen. One morning he saw a chance to escape. A truck full of potatoes come into the prison yard. He took half the sacks of potatoes into the kitchen. The driver tells him to leave the rest in the truck. Harris then hid among the sacks of potatoes which was still on the truck. The truck then left the prison. After half an hour the truck stopped and the driver gets out. Harris now thinks it was safe to come out. He couldn’t believe it - he wasn’t free, he was in another prison yard! The other sacks of potatoes were for the prisoners in Wandsworth Prison, London!
(1 ...) (5 ...)
(2 ...) (6 ...)
(3 ...) (7 ...)
(4 ...) (8 ...)