Name:___________________________________

Date: ____________________________________

1) Choose the correct option

1. As the stranger came / was coming to the station, a car stopped / was stopping behind him.
2. When did you start / were you starting work? I started / was starting at 6 o'clock.
3. He got up / was getting up and switched off / was switching off the light.
4. When I finished / was finishing my homework, I cooked was cooking dinner.
5. While we listened were listening to the news, the telephone rang/ was ringing .
6. Kate stood up / was standing up and answered / was answering the phone.
7. As I drove / was driving to work last Friday, a car crashed/ was crashing in front of me.
8. What did you do / were you doing when you saw / were seeing it?
9. Yesterday Carrol wrote / was writing letters from 10 to 11 and then from 5 to 7 again.
10. We arrived in Cannes at 2.30 and the sun shone / was shining .
11. People sunbathed / were sunbathing on the beach and big yachts sailed / were sailing near the harbour.
12. We parked / were parking our car and went / were going to the beach.

2) Complete the texts with Past simple or past continuous

a)Last night, while I was doing my homework, Angela _________________(call) . She said she_________________ (call)
me on her cell phone from her biology classroom at UCLA. I asked her if she _________________ (wait) for class, but
she said that the professor was at the front of the hall lecturing while she _________________ (talk) to me. I couldn't
believe she _________________ (make) a phone call during the lecture. I asked what was going on. She said her biology
professor was so boring that several of the students (sleep) in class. Some of the students _________________ (talk)
about their plans for the weekend and the student next to her _________________ (draw) a picture of a horse. When
Angela (tell) me she was not satisfied with the class, I _________________ (mention) that my biology professor was
quite good and _________________ (suggest) that she switch to my class. While we were talking, I _________________
(hear) her professor yell, "Miss, are you making a phone call?" Suddenly, the line went dead. I _________________
(hang) up the phone and went to the kitchen to make dinner. As I _________________ (cut) vegetables for a salad, the
phone rang once again. It _________________ (be) Angela, but this time she wasn't sitting in class.

b) When I _________________ (arrive) at the party, it _________________ (be) already packed with people. Some of
them _________________ (dance) while others _________________ (chat) . When I realised that no one
_________________ (pay) any attention to me, I _________________ (decide) to go home. But just as I
_________________ (leave) the party, a beautiful brunette _________________ (walk) through the door and
_________________ (smile) at me.

c) Last week I _________________ (decide) to invite some friends to dinner. I _________________ (buy) lots of
delicious food, including some Parma ham and at about 6.00 I _________________ (cook) in the kitchen. The sun
_________________ (shine) and it was a beautiful evening, so,I _________________ (open) the back door. Then the
telephone _________________ (ring). I _________________ (go) to answer it and when I _________________
(come)back the ham wasn't on the table. I _________________ (look) out of the window. A cat _________________
(sit) on my garden wall and it _________________ (eat) my ham. What could I do? I _________________ (fill) a pan
with water and I went quietly outside. The cat _________________ (not look) in my direction and it
_________________ (enjoy) the ham so much _________________ (not hear) me. I _________________ (walk) slowly
up to it, I _________________ (want) to empty the water over its head. A bit cruel. I know but the ham
_________________ (be) very expensive but at the last moment the cat heard me and _________________ (escape)in
the neighbourhood.