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Exercise 1: past continuous/progressive

Exercise 1: past continuous/progressive

(Practise your skills in forming the past continuous)

Past progressive (ing form) – cloze test (difficulty: 2 of 5 – rather easy)

Fill the gaps with the correctly conjugated form of the past progressive or continuous (which is the ing form of the past) of the corresponding verb in brackets. Do not use any short forms.

  • Example: “Harold ____________ for the bus.” (wait) → “Harold was waiting for the bus.”

You can check your results with the button below after you have finished. If you still need help with the topic, have another look at the use and formation of the past progressive/continuous. You may also use the hint button, but note that you will lose points for that.

  1. I an interesting book. (read)
  2. You in the pool. (swim)
  3. Peter and John on the phone. (talk)
  4. They in the garden all day. (sit)
  5. She a game on the computer. (play)
  6. Carla sports on TV when I left. (watch)
  7. We lunch when we saw you. (have)
  8. Last night they me so many stories. (tell)
  9. The grandchild a letter to her grandmother. (write)
  10. The cat on the couch. (sleep)

Further exercises and explanations referring to the ‘Past continuous’

The following exercises and explanations relate to the English tense ‘Past continuous/progressive’ and may help you too: