WREN & MARTIN's English grammar-past tense-practice

 

The Past Tense: 10 Practice MCQs

1. I _______ a letter to him yesterday.

A. write

B. was writing

C. wrote

D. had written

2. The light went out while I _______.

A. read

B. was reading

C. had read

D. had been reading

3. The train _______ before I reached the station.

A. left

B. was leaving

C. had left

D. had been leaving

4. I _______ for two hours when the clock struck five.

A. waited

B. was waiting

C. had waited

D. had been waiting

5. We _______ our dinner when the guests arrived.

A. had

B. were having

C. have had

D. had been having

6. I _______ the Taj Mahal last year.

A. visited

B. was visiting

C. had visited

D. have visited

7. He _______ a new car last week.

A. buys

B. was buying

C. bought

D. has bought

8. When we went to the cinema, the film _______.

A. already started

B. was already starting

C. had already started

D. has already started

9. She _______ very hard for the exam all day yesterday.

A. works

B. was working

C. had worked

D. had been working

10. I _______ that he was out of town.

A. think

B. was thinking

C. thought

D. had thought

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Answer Key

Question	Answer	Tense Used	Explanation
1	C	Simple Past	Used for an action completed in the past (hint: "yesterday").
2	B	Past Continuous	Used for an action that was going on in the past when another action happened.
3	C	Past Perfect	Describes an action completed before another past action started.
4	D	Past Perfect Continuous	Action that began before a point in the past and continued up to that point.
5	B	Past Continuous	Describes an action in progress when a second, shorter action interrupted it.
6	A	Simple Past	Indicates an action finished at a specific time in the past.
7	C	Simple Past	A completed action in the past (hint: "last week").
8	C	Past Perfect	To show which of two past actions happened first.
9	D	Past Perfect Continuous	Emphasizes the duration of a past action leading up to another past time.
10	C	Simple Past	Used to state a past belief or thought.