SIMPLE PAST TENSE Exercises I.

Put the verbs in brackets into the Simple Past Tense:

a) My grandfather had a nice life. When he was young, he_______________ (live) on a farm in the country. He______________ (look) after the cows. When he was eighteen, he went to the University where he _______________ (study) Geography. He _____________ (play) the piano in a band. When the war ______________ (start) he _______________ (try) to join the Army, but he _____________ (end) up in the Navy. When his ship sank, only five men ______________ (escape). They _______________ (sail) in a lifeboat back to England. There, my grandfather met my grandmother and they _____________ (marry) after three weeks. He says that he ____________ (want) to marry her quickly in case he ____________ (die) in the war. b) Tom ____________ (visit) his friends Mary and Mark last weekend. It ____________ (be) Marys birthday on Sunday, but they ________________ (celebrate) it on Saturday night. They _____________ (stay) at the disco until one oclock in the morning. Mary _____________ (enjoy) it. She _____________ (dance) all night! On Sunday, Tom and his friends _____________ (be) tired. They _____________ (stay) in bed until 11 oclock. In the afternoon, they ______________ (walk) in the park. But it was cold and rainy, so they ______________ (walk) home again and _____________ (watch) a video. c) Dear Jane, I ____________ (try) to phone you yesterday, but you ________________ (not be) in the house, so I am writing this letter to you. Last weekend I ____________ (visit) my cousin. It ______________ (rain) all day on Saturday, so we _____________ (stay) in and _____________ (watch) TV. The films ____________ (be) OK, but I ______________ (want) to be outside! On Sunday, the weather _____________ (be) great. We _____________ (play) tennis all afternoon and ______________ (enjoy) ourselves. I _____________ (miss) my train. I _____________ (arrive) at the station at 9 oclock and my train ___________ (be) at 8.30.

II. Every letter has a number. Solve the exercise then write the correct letter under the corresponding number. 1. Be careful! There are verbs that end with a letter which changes in the Simple Past! 2. Pronounce the verb liked. Is the last sound /t/, /d/ or /id/? 3. If a verb ends with this letter, we add only the letter d in the Simple Past. 4. Write the missing letter: as_ed. 5. Put the verb star into the Simple Past. Which letter is doubled? 6. Think of a 4 letter regular verb that rhymes with mall then write its vowel. 7. The letter y changes into ____ if there is a consonant before it. 8. This word is used with the Simple Past: ag_. Write the missing letter. 9. Which word is the opposite of tomorrow and is used with the Simple Past? Write its second letter. 10. Think of a verb that rhymes with swallow then write its first letter. 11. Write the missing letter: wal_ed. 12. Think of a verb that rhymes with stay then write its first letter. 13. The Simple Past forms of this verb are was/were. Write its first letter. 14. Write the missing letter: liste_ed. 15. Write the missing letter: He was so funny! I _miled! 16. Write the missing letter: st_died. 17. Translate a privi into English then write the letter which appears twice. 18. Think of the opposite of cry then write its last letter. 19. Write the missing letter: tri_d. 2 1 8 7 1 4 11

1 3

1 0

1 7

16

1 5

1 2

1 9

6 4