Past simple vs past continuous

EX.19 Сhoose the best verb form to complete the sentences.

1 Jack was looking for a job when he was winning / won the lottery.

2 I was crossing / crossed the road, went into the shop and bought a lottery ticket.

3 I was watching / watched a game of tennis when my boyfriend phoned and told me I'd won £25,000.

4 I was buying / bought my lottery ticket on Saturday and as usual I didn't win a thing.

5 The gambling industry was making / made over £42 billion last year.

6 I was listening / listened to the radio when my winning numbers came up.

7 My sister was living / lived on nothing when she won £1,000,000.

8 I was reading / read the newspaper when I saw an article about an old school friend of mine who had won £12 million.

EX.20 Underline the correct form

a While he took / was taking a bath, Archimedes discovered / was discovering the principles of density and buoyancy.

b When Edouard Benedictus, a French scientist, worked / was working in his laboratory, he dropped / was dropping a glass bottle which had some plastic inside - and invented / was inventing safety glass.

c Columbus arrived / was arriving in America while he tried / was trying to reach the Far East.

d Alexander Fleming discovered / was discovering penicillin by accident while he looked / was looking at some old experiments.

e While Hiram Bingham climbed / was climbing in the mountains of Peru in 1911, he discovered / was discovering the lost city of Macchu Picchu.

f While Isaac Newton sat / was sitting under an apple tree, an apple fell / was falling on his head, and he understood / was understanding gravity.

g While Dr Harry Coover tried/ was trying to invent a new kind of plastic, he made/ was making a very soft substance which stuck / was sticking things together. It was Superglue.

h While he observed / was observing the Moon through his telescope, Galileo realized / was realizing that it had mountains and craters.

EX.21 Use the prompts to make a question. The answers are in Exercise 20.

a Where / Edouard Benedictus / work when he invented safety glass?

Where. was. Edouward.Benedictus working when he.invented safety glass?

b Where / Columbus / try to go when he reached America? …………………………………?

c Where / Isaac Newton / sit according to the story about gravity?

…………………………………………………..?

d What / Dr Harry Coover / hope to invent?

...... ……………………………………?

e What Galileo / look at / through his telescope?

Ex.22 Complete the two true stories. Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple or the past continuous.

Three friends (1)_____(spend) the weekend in London when they were refused entry at a nightclub because they (2)___________(not / wear) shirts and ties. They (3)_________(go) to an all-night supermarket and (4)________(buy) some new shirts. While they (5) _________(pay) for the shirts, they (6) __________ (decide) to buy a scratchcard and (7) __________(win) £20,000. They (8)________(spend) the whole night celebrating in the nightclub!

A man (9) {walk) under a tree when some bird droppings (10)______(fall) on his head. As this is supposed to be lucky, he (11)_________(decide) to buy an instant lottery ticket and he (12) (win)£24. The following week he (13)______(stand) under the same tree when the same thing (14) ___________(happen) again!

So he (15) (buy) another lottery ticket and won £444. He now spends time every week standing under that lucky tree, waiting for that little bird.

EX.23 Complete the text with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

My friend (1)……(tell) me a funny story the other day. When she was at university she (2)……(share) a house with five other girls and none of them had any money. They (3)…… (talk) about ways to make money when one of them……(4)(suggest) they buy a lottery ticket. They(5)…….(decide) to use the dates they were born on as their 'lottery numbers'. The next Saturday they (6)……(sit) in the pub and (7)…….(have) a drink when the winning numbers came up on the TV. They (8)……(have) all six winning numbers. The only problem was that they had forgotten to buy a lottery ticket!

EX.24 Classwork

We саll short, usually true stories 'anecdotes'. We often use the past continuous to set the scene at the beginning of аn anecdote (I was walking bу the river ), and use the past simple to say what happened ( when I saw someone fall in).

Have уоu ever done anything dangerous, naughty, exciting or funny? Теll your anecdote to your group. Decide together which of the three anecdotes is the most interesting.

Ex.25 Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Simple or Continuous.

А few years ago а friend of mine, Тоm, 1) was travelling (travel) in Java. Оnе day he 2)………(decide) to visit аn ancient temple. The walls were covered in beautiful old paintings of mysterious-looking faces. While he 3)………(walk) around the temple, he 4)………(feel) аn inexplicable desire to remove оnе particular face which seemed to bе staring at him. Nervously, checking to see that nо оnе 5)………(look), he 6)………(peel) the face from the wall and 7)………(put) it carefully in his bag. Тоm 8)………(think) nо mоrе about the incident until two years later. At that time he 9)………(live) in London and 10)………(work) in а shop selling old books and manuscripts. Оnе day аn extremely old mаn 11)………(walk) slowly through the door. Тоm could hardly see him but he 12)………(notice) the man's piercing black eyes. Не 13)……….(stare) at Тоm, fixing him with his gaze, saying nothing. As the mаn 14)……….(stare) at him, Tom 15)………(have) an awful, terrifying feeling of shame and fear. Suddenly, the mаn was gone. When Тоm got home that evening he 16)………(search) frantically through all his things until he 17)………(find) the face from the temple. It was the face of the old mаn from the shop! Не 18)………(know) then that he had to return the picture to the temple, оr something terrible would happen.

USED TO - WOULD

EX.26 In the extracts below a famous British writer, John Mortimer, and his daughter, Emily, talk about each other. Read the extracts and answer the questions.

a) Who is talking in each extract, the father or the daughter?

b) Who do you like more, the father or the daughter?

1. I used to love gardening, and, much to her embarrassment, I would go to collect her from some club at 2 a.m. wearing my gardening cap.

2. When I was little he used to get up every morning, dress me, cook my breakfast, and drive me school. And I treated him very badly in return. At the age of four I used to send my eggs back unless they were perfectly cooked.

3. I was embarrassed by the fact that Dad was older and used to wish that I had a father who played cricket and built tree houses. In fact I used to make him park around the corner from school because he was so old.

4. Emily used to do very well in public-speaking competitions. I used to write her speeches with her.

5. I used to be very embarrassed when, as a teenager, I went out to clubs and Dad would come and collect me wearing his gardening cap.

Find examples of used to + verb in the extracts and underline them.

Find examples of would + verb in the extracts and circle them.

EX.27 Ada Atkins, 93, explains why she has соmе to live in town.

Years ago, nobody in mу village would lock / was locking thеir front doors. We used to feel/would feel safe in those days. Last month, I met/ was meeting ту nеighbоur in thе street when I was walking/would walk home from the shорs and shе told/was telling те some bad news. Thieves were breaking / used to break into people's hоusеs whilе they were sitting/ would sit in their back gardens. I realised/was realizing that I wasn't wanting/ didn't want to live there any more. So last week I was moving / тoved to this little flat. I аm not used/ didn't иse to being in thе town yet, but people аrе more friendly than I was thinking/thought they might bе, and I feel much hаррiеr and safer.

EX.28 Thinking about meaning

Complete each sentence, 1-6, with а suitable ending а)-n). There are more endings than уоu need.

Example: She used to play b)

1 I'd watch ТV for hours .	а) а cat. It's very unfriendly!
2 I used to have .	b) tеnnis every morning before breakfast
3 I used to feel .	с) so I was quite fit.
4 We used to live .	d) lonely until I met James.
5 I cycled а lot yesterday	е) last night until ту eyes hurt.
6 They would go .	f) in Rome, but we're thinking of moving.
	g) for а long walk in the countryside last Saturday.
	h) so I felt tired.
	i) but I never watch it now.
	j) in Rome, but we moved to Naples last year.
	k) in the 1994 tennis fina1.
	l) for long walks in the countryside.
	m) а cat, but it died last year.
	n) lonely because I live alone and mу neighbours aren't very friend1y

EX. 29 Complete the sentence with used to + a verb from the list.

write spend work hold help act teach set tell do

a Charles Dickens, the novelist, ....used to write until early in the morning, and then go for long walks across London.

b William Shakespeare ……..in some of his own plays.

c The German philosopher Immanuel Kant..... exactly the same things at the same time every day, so that people……..their watches by his actions.

d The author Agatha Christie……..her second husband with his archaeological excavations

e The novelist James Joyce……..English in the Italian city of Trieste, and some people say that he……..his students the wrong meanings of words as a joke.

f The novelist Marcel Proust……..in a special soundproof room.

g The ancient Greek philosophers……..their classes outside in the open air.

h The Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov……..his free time studying and catching

moths and butterflies.

Ex. 30 Complete the sentence with used to + a verb in brackets in positive, negative or question form

a What things (be). . used to be different in the past?

b For a start, all the continents (form)…….one large land mass.

c Obviously, there (be)…….cities and buildings, and forest covered a third of the Earth.

d The climate was different, and animals such as the hippopotamus and rhinoceros (exist)….in northern Europe.

e Many mountains in Europe (be)…….active volcanoes.

f Early people (live)…….in complex societies, but in small groups in places where they could find food.

g What (eat)…….? They (eat)…….whatever they could find.

h Early people (stay)……..in the same place, but (travel)……..long distances, following the animals they needed for food.

Ex.31 Used to and would in spoken extracts

In the extracts below four parents talk about their children, William, Justin, Tessa and Lizzie, who are now grown uр. Fill in the gaps with used to or would and аn appropriate form of a verb from the bох. Yоu will have to use the past simple for оne.

ask drеss up help love play play sing smеll tеll

We had а bох of old clothes and William used to dress up all the time as а cowboy, pirate or king. Не 1…… games, too, where he imagined he was the king of а magical country, and he 2…… us stories for hours at а time.

Justin 3……in the bath аll the time, and in the garden. I remember the neighbours complained quite often about the noise. And when he wasn't singing he 4……… аn old guitar, which sounded even worse.

Tessa 5 …….. school, and always talked to the family about the things she had learnt. She 6 ………her sisters and friends with their homework - she was very good at explaining things.

Lizzie 7…….. for а chemistry set for her tenth birthday. We were аll surprised, but when she got it she never stopped doing experiments. Often, I remember, the whole house 8…………… of strange chemicals!

EX.32 Write а paragraph about what уоu used to do as а child. If уоu are working in class, collect the paragraphs together and guess who wrote each оnе.

Who in the class had the most similar lifestyle to yours?

EX.33 TRANSLATE INTO English

1. Когда Вы победили на этих соревнованиях? Я ничего не слышал о вашей победе. 2. Он узнал о своей победе, когда пил пиво с друзьями в местном пабе. 3. Когда я пришел на работу, они пытались найти решение этой проблемы. 4. Мы как раз говорили об этом благотворительном концерте, когда он вошел. 5. Он вошел и увидел Джейн, она рисовала своего сына. 6. Вода в чайнике кипела, когда мои друзья вернулись в лагерь. 7.Когда я пришел, они сидели в гостиной. Мама решала кроссворд, брат читал, остальные смотрели телевизор. 8. С кем вы разговаривали по телефону, когда я вошел? 9. Мы ехали со скоростью 40 миль в час, когда произошла авария. 10. Он вошел, посмотрел на картину, постоял немного, повернулся и вышел. 11. Том шел по пустынной улице, когда встретил своих школьных друзей. 12. Майкл поднял глаза от книги и посмотрел в окно. Все ещё шёл сильный дождь. 13. Я услышал стук и подошёл к двери, но, когда я её открыл, я не узнал их, так как на мне не было очков. 14. Когда он приехал домой, он пошёл прямо в гостиную и включил радио. 15. Он посмотрел телевизор с полчаса, а потом начал читать книгу. 16. Вчера в пять часов она накрывала на стол. 17. Когда он учился в Институте, он проводил много времени в местной библиотеке. 18. Раньше он все время провожал нас до школы. 19. Она, бывало, часами сидела у окна и глядела на лес. 20. Раньше он часто играл в азартные игры.