Past Continuous Tense Exercises

[Bilge Gökçen]

past continuous tense exercises
Put the verbs in brackets into the past continuous tense.

1 Detective: I'm afraid I must ask you both what you (do) yesterday at 10.20 p.m.
Mr X: I (play) chess with my wife.
Mr Y: I (listen) to a play on the radio.
2 The children were frightened because it (get) dark.
3 It was a fine day and the roads were crowded because a lot of people (rush) to the seaside.
4 The airplane in which the football team (travel) crashed soon after taking off.
5 He usually wears sandals but when I last saw him he (wear) boots.
6 The house was in great disorder because he (redecorate) it.
7 The director didn't allow the actors to travel by air while they (work) on the film.
8 The car had nobody in it but the engine (run).
9 Two children (play) on the sand and two fishermen (lean) against an upturned boat.
10 I was alone in the house at that time because Mr Jones (work) in the garage and Mrs Jones (shop).
11 He said that he was the captain of a ship which (sail) that night for Marseilles.
12 Are you going to Rome? I thought that you (go) to Milan.
13 My wife and I (talk) about you the other day.
14 When I first met him he (study) painting.
15 There was a strong smell and the sound of frying. Obviously Mrs Jones (cook) fish.
16 Tom ate nothing for lunch because he (diet). He said that he (try) to lose 10 kilos.
17 Who you (talk) to on the telephone as I came in?
I (talk) to Mr Pitt.
18 As she (climb) the ladder it slipped sideways and she fell off it.
19 When I first met him he (work) in a restaurant.
20 He watched the children for a moment. Some of them (bathe) in the sea, others (look) for shells, others (play) in the sand.
21 Where he (live) when you saw him last?
22 She (stand) at the bus stop. I asked her what bus she (wait) for.
23 From the sounds it was clear that Mary (practise) the piano.
24 There had been an accident and men (carry) the injured people to an ambulance.
25 Two men (fight) at a street comer and a policeman (try) to stop them. ~
What they (fight) about? ~
Nobody seemed to know.
26 Tom (sit) in a corner with a book. I told him that he (read) in very bad light.
27 I went into the garden to see what the boys (do). James (weed) and Alexander (cut) the grass.
28 They had taken off the wheel of the car and (mend) the puncture. I asked when it would be ready.
29 When I arrived at the meeting the first speaker had just finished speaking and the audience (clap),
30 The traffic (make) so much noise that I couldn't hear what he (say).
31 While he (learn) to drive he had twenty-five accidents.
32 He had a bad fall while he (repair) his roof.
33 He was a little mad. He always (try) to prove that the earth was flat.
34 While we (fish) someone came to the house and left this note.
35 The exam had just begun and the candidates (write) their names at the top of their papers.
36 Just as I (wonder) what to do next, the phone rang.

 

[Bilge Gökçen]

Cevap: Past Continuous Tense Exercises

I were doing, was playing, was listening 2 was getting 3 were rushing 4 was travelling 5 was wearing 6 was redecorating 7 were working 8 was running 9 were playing, were leaning 10 was working, was shopping 11 was sailing 12 were going
13 were talking 14 was studying 15 was cooking 16 was dieting, was trying 17 were you talking, was talking 18 was climbing 19 was working 20 were bathing, were looking, were
playing 21 was he living 22 was standing, was waiting 23 was practising 24 were carrying 25 were fighting, was trying, were they fighting 26 was sitting, was reading 27 were doing, was weeding, was cutting 28 were mending 29 was/were clapping 30 was making, was saying 31 was learning 32 was repairing 33 was always trying 34 were fishing 35 were writing 36 was wandering