Past tenses Practice

Choose the right form of the verb in brackets:

1) I ___________ (buy) this car in January.

2) I had ________________ (finish) high school when the Great Depression ______________ (strike) the country.

3) We ____________ (take) a walk in the park when a heavy thunderstorm suddenly ____________ (break) out.

4) When I finally ______________ (wake) up, the clock radio ______________ (blare) for a good couple of hours.

5) Butch __________ (sniff) the plate and ____________ (woof). He _____________ (tremble)with anticipation.

6) I __________ (buy) a diamond ring for my future wife yesterday.

7) I ___________________ (wait) for half an hour when she finally ________________ (arrive).

8) The car _____________ (service) before it was _____________ (sell).

9) Condensed milk ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________ (produce) in America since the mid 1850s.

10) She __________________ (already, leave) when I ______________ (come).

11) I __________________ (talk) on the phone when she _______________ (run) into the room.

12) I _______________ (be) at work yesterday.

13) Her hair _____________ (be) wet, she ____________________ (swim).

14) I _____________ (eat) frogs when I _______________ (be) in France.

15) He ___________________ (repair) the car during the whole week before he _____________ (decide) to ask me to help him.

16) I ________________ (do) homework at 5 o'clock yesterday.

17) While I _____________ (write) a letter, my father was looking through the newspaper.

18) The Jurassic period ______________ (last) about 62 million years.

19) I _______________ (not, know) who he ________________ (be). I ________________ (see) him before.

20) He ______________ (write) the letter, ________________ (put) it in the envelope, ______________ (leave) it on the table and ______________ (go) out.

21) The house _____________ (be) dirty. They _______________ (clean it for weeks.
22) He _______________ (know) that she ________________ (work) in this company for five years.

KEYS:

1. Bought

2. Finished, struck

3. Were taking, broke

4. Woke, had been blaring

5. Sniffed, woofed, was trembling

6. Bought

7. Had been waiting, arrived

8. Had been serviced, sold

9. Had been being produced

10. Had left, came

11. Was talking, ran

12. Was

13. Was, had been swimming

14. Ate, was

15. Had been repairing, decided

16. Was doing

17. Was writing, was looking

18. Lasted

19. Didn’t know, was, had never seen

20. Wrote, put, left, went

21. Was, hadn’t cleaned

22. Knew, had worked