Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997

6 The past continuous or the past simple? I was waiting for the bus or I waited for the bus?

Quick reference

• We use the past continuous to talk about an action that was already in progress at a certain time in the past.

At 8.00 yesterday evening I was having a drink with a friend.

• We often use the past continuous to describe a situation, to give the background to a scene that happened in the past.

/had a terrible morning. It was raining. The neighbours were shouting at each other. My head was aching. The radio wasn’t working, and I was feeling depressed.

• We use the past continuous to talk about an action or a situation that was in progress. We use the past simple to talk about a completed action in the past.

I was doing the washing-up when the phone rang.

• Some verbs are almost never used in the past continuous. The most common are: agree, be, believe, belong, care, forget, hate, have (possession), hear, know, like, love, mean, mind, notice, own, remember, seem, suppose, understand, want, wish.

/ knew the answer. (not I was knowing the answer.)

/ didn’t understand him. (not I wasn’t understanding him.)

1 This is what Matthew did yesterday evening.

7.15 Left home

7.25 Got to bus stop

7.30 Bus came

7.45 Arrived in city centre

7.55 Met Andrea

8.00 Went into pub

8.15 Came out of pub

8.25 Arrived at cinema

10.20 Came out of cinema

10.30 Went into pizza restaurant

11.45 Got home

What was Matthew doing, or what were Matthew and Andrea doing, at the following times? Choose verbs from the box.

wait (x2)

have

watch

walk

go

eat

Example: At 7.20 he was walking to the bus-stop.

1 At 7.27 ... for the bus.

2 At 7.40 he ... by bus to the city centre.

3 At 7.50 he ... for Andrea.

4 At 8.10 they ... a drink in a pub.

5 At 9.00 they ... a film.

6 At 10.40 they ... a pizza.

2 Sam had a party last night. His parents arrived home in the middle of the party. Describe what they found. Put in the correct form of the verbs.

There (I be) ... a lot of noise. Sam and his friends (2 play) ... very loud music. A lot of people (3 dance) ... . Some people (4 not listen) ... to the music. They (5 be) ... in the kitchen. They (6 eat) ... chips and ice cream. One girl (7 lie) ... on the piano. A boy (8 be) ... asleep on the sofa. He (9 not wear) ... his shirt, and he (10 have) ... a rose between his teeth. The dog (11 hide) ... under the stairs.

3 Justin is telling a friend how he met his wife. Read the text carefully. Some of the lines are correct, and some have a mistake in them. 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.

Example:

1 I lived in Paris when 1 first met her. (was living)

2 She was working at the Louvre and she was having a flat by the river.

3 We were meeting at a cafe where we were sitting at separate tables.

4 It was a beautiful spring day, and the sun shone.

5 I went to the toilet when 1 bumped into her table and spilt her drink.

6 I apologised to her and bought her another drink.

7 While I was having my coffee, she came over and sat at my table.

8 While we were talking, the waiter was coming with our bill.

9 But we didn’t see him because we looked lovingly at each other.

(...)

(...)

(...) ...

4 Describe a series of events that happened to you recently. Use your imagination, if necessary. Use the past simple and the past continuous.

Example:

When I got up, it was raining. While I was getting dressed, the phone rang. While I was talking on the phone, the toast caught fire. Etc.

Check your answers with a teacher