PAST SIMPLE TENSE
1. Supply the correct past tense form of the verb suggested
1. They usually listen to rap music. Yesterday they ………………….. to classical music.
2. The children play in the park. They …………………….. (not) there yesterday afternoon. They …………………… at home.
3. Everyone hurries to go to work. They ……………………… to see the parade yesterday.
4. Class begins at ten o’clock. It ……………….. at ten o’clock yesterday.
5. He stays until everyone leaves. He …………………. until the other guests had left.
6. Jerry often breaks things. He ………………. a cup this morning.
7. Miss Jones teaches the 2nd grade. She ……………………… my little sister last year.
8. My brother reads a lot. He …………………… two hundred books last year.
9. I wear that blue sweater a lot. I …………………. it on Saturday to the football game.
10. The clerks type letters. They ……………………. fifty yesterday.
11. He travels a lot. When he was a sailor, he ………………… all over the world.
12. Children grow very fast. Sammy ………………… half a foot this year.
2. Who was Charles Wedgwood? Complete his biography by putting the verbs in the past simple tense
He …………..(be) born in England on February 12th, 1809. His first name ………….. (be) Charles. His father’s family name was Wedgwood, but later he ……………. (choose) to use his mother’s family name.
He …………….. (not/be) very good at school, and he ………………….. (change) schools many times. At university he …………………. (become) interested in science and …………….. (start) collecting beetles.
When he ……………… (be) 22 years old, he …………… (get) a job as a naturalist on a ship ‘ The Beagle’. He …………………… (spend) five years travelling around the world. He later …………..(call) this the most important event in his life.
During the trip he ………………….. (observe) plants and wildlife. He …………….. (fill) notebooks with observations and drawings. He ……………… (be) fascinated by the enormous Galapagos tortoises. These, and the birds he ………………. (watch) on his voyages, ………………. (be) the starting point for a new theory of life.
In 1858 he …………………….. (publish) his most important work:’The Origin of the Species’In it he ………………. (outline) the theory of evolution. Many of his fellow scientists ………………. (disagree) with his findings.
Twelve years after publishing ‘The Origin of the Species’, he …………………. (publish) ‘The Descent of Man’. This book ………………. (take) the theory of evolution and ………………. (apply) it to humans. He …………….. (be) worried how the Church would react to the suggestion that humans had evolved from apes. This controversy continues today.
Charles ………………… (die) on April 19th, 1882.
QUESTIONS. Make questions for the following answers.
1. Beyoncé sang very well at the inaugural ball last night.(2)
2. Ken drank four cups of milk.
3. Mary liked Jim because he was handsome.
4. My teacher’s family left for their holidays the day before yesterday.
5. The bus stopped at the corner.
6. Yes, the prince became king.
7. No, my knee didn’t hurt last night.
8. Sarah swept her bedroom early this morning. (2)
9. Yes, Shakespeare wrote ‘Hamlet’.
10. No, I didn’t meet the old professor.
11. She bought the red dress.