Basics of Past Tense in English: Practise Questions with Answers

Tense is a word form that describes the relationship between the time of an incident and the time of utterance. It implies the completion or continuing of a task. Whether you’re a school student or studying for a competitive exam or another English proficiency test, having a thorough understanding of tenses will undoubtedly help you score higher. In this article, we have primarily focused on the past tense in English.

Past Tense Rules

The past tense is used to describe an activity or event that happened in the past. This form of verb defines the incidents that have already occurred in the past.

Some examples of the past tense are:

# She attended the program.

# JB performed in the show.

# She was waiting for her friends.

# Rina was singing in the event.

# Dana wrote the article.

# I was attending the course.

# I prepared the design.

# Albert was sick.

# Pooh went to the library.

# Rick was exhausted.

# Hami attended the winter festival fairs.

# Sammy wrote a letter to her parents about the trip.

Types of Past Tenses in English

Simple Past Tense

The rule of simple past tense is: Subject + V2 + Object

Some examples of simple past tense are:

# I played baseball yesterday.

# My aunt woke up late in the morning.

# You didn’t write any articles last month.

# They went to the movie early.

# Did you recite the poem on stage?

# They ate pastries in the bakery shop.

# My father lived in Texas.

# He spoke good Hindi to the interviewer.

# Did you not finish your revision?

# When did you buy this hat?

# How long did the train journey take?

# My mother cooked chicken yesterday.

# My friend watched a comedy movie.

# You went to Texas last year.

# I wrote a letter to my cousin from camp.

# They didn’t go to work.

# I missed her the whole year.

# I learned 20 sentences.

Past Continuous Tense

The rule of past continuous tense is: Subject + was + V1 + ing + Object (Singular) Subject + were + V1 + ing + Object (Plural)

Some examples of past continuous tense are:

# They were playing baseball after school.

# He was eating fruits.

# It was raining tonight.

# He wasn’t watching the horror movie.

# They were going to the gym.

# Ram was doing a great job.

# I was not posting a letter.

# My camera wasn’t working properly.

# We were celebrating a birthday.

# The professor was teaching in a class.

Past Perfect Tense

The rule of past perfect tense is: Subject + had + V3 + Object

Some examples of past perfect tense are:

# She had written blogs on different topics before the deadline.

# He had read a lot of books before she came.

# They had played baseball in that park before it started to snow.

# She had gone to the grocery shop before she came home.

# Ravi came here after you had left.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The rule of past perfect continuous tense is: Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object

Some examples of past perfect continuous tense are:

# She had been playing video games for 8 hours.

# He had been cooking food for years.

# Sam had been losing weight before he had surgery.

# That girl had been singing a song since 3 o’clock.

# He had been helping your sister since 2009.

# My mother had been living in California since 2010.

Also Read: Antithesis Figure of Speech: Check Out the Meaning and Examples of Antithesis!

Exercise of Past Simple Tense

To create a sentence in the simple past tense, write down the right form of the verb in the brackets.

#Q1. You _________ my window’s glass. (break)

#Q2. I _____ something near that place. (see)

#Q3. He _____ from London sometimes ago. (come)

#Q4. She ______ an iPhone. (buy)

#Q5. He ________ anyone yet for the mission. (not/choose)

#Q6. ____ they ______ with the committee? (speak)

#Q7. He ______ on the table all day. (stand)

#Q8. His head ______ to the door. (strike)

#Q9. I ______ about this earlier. (hear)

#Q10. The birds _____ away in the sky. (flying)

#Q11. ____ you _____ with her yesterday? (sleep)

#Q12. Our soldiers _____ the battle. (win)

#Q13. A Farmer _________ suicide after hearing this news. (commit)

#Q14. He _____ a letter to the principal. (write)

#Q15. An apple _______ from the tree. (fall)

Answers

#A1. broke

#A2. saw

#A3. came

#A4. bought

#A5. did not choose

#A6. Did, speak

#A7. stood

#A8. struck

#A9. heard

#A10. flew

#A11. sleep

#A12. won

#A13. committed

#A14. wrote

#A15. fell

Exercise 2

Convert the following sentences to a simple past.

#Q1. Suma writes to her mother every day.

#Q2. He does not have a job.

#Q3. The wind blows furiously.

#Q4. The boy stands on the burning deck.

#Q5. The girls sing sweetly.

#Q6. The old man sits in the corner.

#Q7. The man shakes with anger.

#Q8. What surprises me is the magnanimity of the offer.

#Q9. He sows the seeds of dissension.

#Q10. The boy runs down at top speed.

#Q11. He swears a solemn oath that he is innocent.

#Q12. In a fit of fury, she tears up the letter.

#Q13. She lays her books neatly on the table.

#Q14. He bids me goodbye.

#Q15. They all tell the same story.

Also Read: What is a Collective Noun? Let’s Learn the Concept With the Help of Examples!

Answers

#A1. Suma wrote to her mother every day.

#A2. He did not have a job.

#A3. The wind blew furiously.

#A4. The boy stood on the burning deck.

#A5. The girls sang sweetly.

#A6. The old man sat in the corner.

#A7. The man shook with anger.

#A8. What surprised me was the magnanimity of the offer.

#A9. He sowed the seeds of dissension.

#A10. The boy ran down at top speed.

#A11. He swore a solemn oath that he was innocent.

#A12. In a fit of fury, she tore up the letter.

#A13. She laid her books neatly on the table.

#A14. He bade me goodbye.

#A15. They all told the same story.

Practise Questions Set 1

Try to answer these questions by using the past tense.

# What did you do last weekend?

# What did you eat for lunch?

# What did he say to you?

# What did Jon study at university?

# What did she think about the movie?

# What did Tina do on her vacation last month?

# What did it say?

# What did the message say?

# What did they talk about at the meeting?

# What did the managers discuss at the conference?

# When did you leave last night?

# When did you finish this report?

# When did she arrive?

# When did Jane call you last night?

# When did he graduate from university?

# When did Henry get a promotion?

# When did it begin?

# When did the movie come out?

# When did they sell their company?

# When did Jane and Tyler get married?

# Where did you meet your wife?

# Where did you find that coat?

# Where did she go to school?

# Where did Paula live in 2004?

Practise Questions Set 2

# Where did he work 10 years ago?

# Where did Peter get that cool hat?

# Where did your dog get that stick?

# Where did it come from?

# Where did they go for dinner last night?

# Where did the children play after school?

# What countries did you visit during your trip?

# What sandwich did you buy?

# What kind of sandwich did she get?

# What kind of dog did she get last week?

# What kind of information did our boss need last week?

# What hotel did you stay at during your trip?

# What computer did you get?

# What kind of phone did they get?

# What color did they paint their house?

# What kind of person did this?

# Which hotel did you stay at?

# Which park did you go to?

# Which shirt did he buy?

# Which countries did they visit?

# Which set did you order?

Also Read: What is a Collective Noun? Let’s Learn the Concept With the Help of Examples!

Basics of Past Tense in English: Practise Questions with Answers