English Grammar Exercises for B1- Past tense contrast

1. Choose the correct answer.

1   It was very late, so my parents were very relieved when I got / had got home last night.

2   The teacher was getting irritated because the children didn’t listen / weren’t listening to her at all.

3   We weren’t satisfied with our hotel room because it didn’t have / wasn’t having a bathroom.

4   John had answered / was answering all the questions in the exam, so he was feeling really pleased.

5   The children were afraid because a big dog was following / had followed them.

6   We were very confused when we discovered we were getting / had got lost.

7   I went home and was doing / did my homework straight away.

8   How did you feel / had you felt when you won the match?

2. Change the sentences from affirmative to negative or from negative to affirmative.

1   They were nervous because they had an exam.

      They weren’t nervous because they didn’t have an exam.

2   She’d brought her camera so she took a photo.

     ………………………………….

3   We were amused because the film was funny.

     ………………………………….

4   I hadn’t read the book so I didn’t want to see the film.

     ………………………………….

5   He felt homesick because he was staying with an English family.

     ………………………………….

6   You were feeling guilty because you’d made a mistake.

     ………………………………….

7   We didn’t go out because it was raining.

     ………………………………….

3. Some of the sentences are incorrect. Rewrite them correctly if necessary.

1   Did you felt upset after the argument?

     ………………………………….

2   I hadn’t breakfast this morning.

     ………………………………….

3   You was looking fed up at the party.

     ………………………………….

4   Was the security camera working when the men took the money?

     ………………………………….

5   They weren’t enjoy the music so they went home.

     ………………………………….

6   Had you listened to the album before you bought it?

     ………………………………….

7   She was jealous because he’d saw his ex-girlfriend.

     ………………………………….

8   We taked some great photos at the festival.

     ………………………………….

4. Complete the story with a suitable past tense form of the verbs in brackets.

One day when I was little, my sister 1…………………… (come) home from school with a pet rabbit in her bag. She 2…………………… (find) it by the side of the road and she 3…………………… (want) to keep it. That evening, we 4…………………… (put) the rabbit in the garage and closed the door carefully.

The next day was Saturday, so after breakfast, we 5…………………… (go) into the garage to look at the rabbit. However, the rabbit wasn’t there! It 6…………………… (escape)! We 7…………………… (search) for it everywhere; in the garden, in the shed, behind the bins. We 8…………………… (look) in the front garden when our neighbour appeared. He 9…………………… (hold) the rabbit! He 10…………………… (discover) it hiding under a bush in his garden. Later on, Dad 11…………………… (make) a special house for the rabbit. We 12…………………… (keep) the rabbit in its new house after that and thankfully it never escaped again

Challenge!

Write about the last time you lost or found something. Use the questions below to help you.

Where were you?

What were you doing?

What happened?

…………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………….