Narrative tenses: simple past- past continuous and past perfect.

Try to complete this story using appropriate verbs in the SIMPLE PAST, PAST CONTINUOUS OR PAST PERFECT.

drink up – raise – open - have – decide - need – discover -not normally spend – hate - be – save - look (2 - smile – know  – turn -  remember - want

Many years ago I 1……………………………. to spend New Year’s Eve with my family.  I 2 …………………………………. new year with my parents but I had nowhere to go, and being with my family seemed preferable to being on my own.

When my parents 3 …………………………… the door I could see they 4…………………………. , and that they were genuinely happy to see me. I 5 ……………………. addicted to heroin for 10 years, and for them, seeing me was the confirmation that I wasn’t dead in an alley. Unfortunately, I 6 …………………………… nothing new or exciting to tell them, just the same sad old stories. I 7 ……HAD BEEN GOING… from crappy job to crappy job, being invariably sacked, and I 8 ………………………. to crime whenever I was out of money.

During dinner, I 9 ……………….. several glassfuls of whisky and I had to go to the bathroom once to do some heroin. I 10 ……………………………… something to make me feel better, because for the whole evening my sisters 11…HAD BEEN LOOKING ....  at me with such contempt that it was unbearable. My own sisters 12 ………………………… me. Then I had a moment of realisation; I 13 ………………………………that they would never hate me as much as I hated myself.

When we finished dinner I 14 ………………………. my glass and said “I’m going into rehab”. My parents 15 …………………………….at me with some kind of hope. Parents never lose hope. But my sisters just 16 ……………………………….. down with disdain. They 17 ……………………………….perfectly well, that I had been in rehab centres many times before, and that this time wouldn’t be different.

It was different. After that day, I 18…………………………..  that look in my sisters’ eyes every day, every time I 19 …………………….. to shoot some heroin.  10 years later, on a New Year’s Eve, I thanked my sisters because they 20 …………………….. my life. They kissed me with their new look in their eyes, the look of love.  

PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS OR PERFECT.

Choose verbs from below and write them in the PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS OR PERFECT.

drive  – get – see  - receive - happen- try - start-

I'm Steve, a motor mechanic and this is the story of something strange that -----------------to me about five years ago.

It was a freezing cold winter. One day I------------a call to assist a motorist whose car had broken down and was stuck in the snow.

As I------------------to the place where the motorist was stranded, I noticed that the snow was getting heavier. When I------------the phone call, I was sure I knew where the motorist was. But when I got there, I couldn't see a car anywhere. I----------to call my office, but my mobile's battery was dead. I looked around, the snow had stopped, but it was lying thick on the ground.

I got out of the car and --------------looking for some sign of the motorist. I looked down and saw some footprints in the snow. I began following them. They led over a small bridge and across a park. It was freezing cold. 

I had been following the footprints for about five minutes when I ---------a phone box about one hundred metres away. I listened. I heard a noise. …….

Narrative Tenses: Simple Past,Past Continuous and Past Perfect.

http://www.eltbase.com/quiz/201_02.htm

click on the link above ,do the exercise online. Click on Check and do self- correction.

PRACTICE OF VERB TENSES: PAST SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS.

Complete the sentences with the words in parentheses using the SIMPLE PAST or the PAST CONTINUOUS: 

1. Christine ______________________ (eat) dinner last night when you ______________________ (knock) on the door.
 2. I ______________________ (begin) to study at nine last night and I ______________________ (still / study) at eleven. 
3. When Jack ______________________ (drop by) to visit me, I______________________ (have) dinner. 
4. Did your parents call you last night while you _______________________ (watch) TV?
 5. When Sam ______________________ (finish) his assignment I ______________________ (talk) to my friend on the phone. 
6. Yesterday Alicia and Gaby ______________________ (go) to the cinema; yet, I stayed at home to finish my project. 
7. As we ______________________ (travel) from Paris to Brussels we ______________________ (stop) at a small restaurant to get something to eat. 
8. While I ______________________ (try) to repair the leaking roof, I ______________________ (fall) down. 
9. My brother ______________________ (be born) in Lisbon in 1986. 
10. I ______________________ (graduate) from Oxford in 1997.
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Answers: 
1. Christine was eating dinner last night when you knocked on the door. 
2. I began to study at nine last night and I was still studying at eleven. 
3. When Jack dropped by to visit me, I was having dinner. 
4. Did your parents call you last night while you were watching TV? 
5. When Sam finished his assignment I was talking to my friend on the phone.
 6. Yesterday Alicia and Gaby went to the cinema; yet, I stayed at home to finish my project. 
7. As we were travelling from Paris to Brussels we stopped at a small restaurant to get something to eat. 8. While I was trying to repair the leaking roof, I fell down. 
9. My brother was born in Lisbon in 1986.
10. I graduated from Oxford in 1997.