Exercises: Contrasting The Simple Past With The Past Continuous

After learning about the differences between the Simple Past and the Past Continuous tense, do the exercises below.

I. Put the verbs in brackets into the simple past or the past continuous tense.

1. Tina ...(wait) for me when I ...(arrive).
   Answer: Tina was waiting for me when I arrived.
2. When I last ...(see) her, she ...(wear) a dark coat.
3. The soldiers ...(patrol) along the river when the enemy ...(attack) them.
4. He ...(look) very busy when I ...(see) him this morning.
5. I ...(greet) him and ...(ask) him what he ...(do).
6. We ...(do) the assignment when the light suddenly ...(go) out.
7. While Doni ...(type) the report, the computer ...(break) down.
8. The car ...(travel) at 80 k.p.h. when it ...(begin) to skid.
9. From the sounds it was clear that the boys ...(practice) music.
10. When I ...(look) through the books in the library, I ...(find) a very interesting novel and ...(decide) to borrow it.
11. When I ...(meet) her, she ...(say) that she ...(not like) her current boarding house and ...(try) to find another.
12. I ...(chat) with my friends when my mobile phone ...(ring).
13. When I ...(wake) up last night, the TV ...(be) on and my son ...(sleep) on the sofa.
14. The weather ...(be) fine when we ...(land) in Jakarta yesterday afternoon. The sun ...(shine) and the breeze ...(blow).
15. I always ...(tell) him that he ...(waste) his time but he never ...(listen).
16. When he ...(arrived) home his children ...(play) in the front yard.
17. There ...(be) many students in the school yard. The girls ...(play) volleyball while the boys ...(play) soccer.
18. I ...(read) my new magazine when someone ...(knock) at the door.
19. When I ...(be) young, I ...(want) to be an architect.
20. When I ...(enter) the classroom the students ...(do) an assignment.

II. Write a short paragraph telling about the people in the picture below. Use Simple Past and Past Continuous Tense.

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📘 Contrasting The Simple Past With The Past Continuous 📘 How to Use Past Continuous Tense 📘 Past Continuous Tense: Struktur, Penggunaan, & Latihan Soal 📘 Simple Past Tense: Bentuk, Penggunaan, dan Latihan Soal