Home task

Exercise 53. Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Continuous tense.

1. Detective: I'm afraid I must ask you both what you (do) yesterday at 10.20 p.m. – Mr X: I (play) chess with my wife. – Mr Y: I (listen) to a play on the radio.

2. The house was in order because he (not/redecorate) it.

3. Two children (play) on the sand and two fishermen (lean) against an upturned boat.

4. I was alone in the house at that time because Mr Jones (work) in the garage and Mrs Jones (shop).

5. There was a strong smell and the sound of frying. Obviously Mrs Jones (cook) fish.

6. Who you (talk) to on the telephone as I came in? I (talk) to Mr Pitt.

7. When I first met him he (not/work) in a restaurant.

8. He watched the children for a moment. Some of them (bathe) in the sea, others (look) for shells, others (play) in the sand.

9. Where he (live) when you saw him last?

10. From the sounds it was clear that Mary (practise) the piano.

11. Two men (fight) at a street corner and a policeman (try) to stop them. – What they (fight) about? – Nobody seemed to know.

12. I went into the garden to see what the boys (do). James (weed) and Alexander (not/cut) the grass.

13. The traffic (make) so much noise that I couldn't hear what he (say).

14. While he (learn) to drive he had twenty-five accidents.

15. While we (fish) someone came to the house and left this note.

Exercise 54. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

e.g. – Father ___himself when he ___ shaving in the morning. (cut-shave)

– Father cut himself when he was shaving in the morning.

1. When the fire ___ in the building, everybody ___. (start-sleep)

2. I ___ this accident when I ___ for my bus. (see-wait)

3. John and Mary ___ a sports programme on TV when the doorbell ___. (watch-ring)

4. Mother ___ her finger badly when she ___ potatoes. (cut-peel)

5. The dog ___ Sam when he ___ the animal. (bite-tease)

6. When Nancy ___ on the pond, she ___ and ___ her leg. (skate-fall-break)

7. Susan ___ the violin when the door ___ and her teacher of music ___ the room. (practise-open-enter)

8. Kate ___ when I ___ a lunch. (call-have)

9. When I ___ Allan at the farm last Monday he ___ the chickens. (see-feed)

10. When I ___ the studio, Robert ___ the portrait of his wife. (enter-finish)

Exercise 55. Translate the following into English concentrating on the use of the Past Continuous:

1. Поки служник та шофер клали його речі в машину, Джек закурив цигарку, 2. У цей момент Стівен побачив чоловіка. Він стояв на розі двох вулиць. 3. Жінка сказала щось хлопчику, який ішов поряд з нею. 4. Коли хлопчик заснув, він ще тримав у руці іграшку. 5. Том прокинувся, оскільки біля його ліжка дзвонив телефон. 6. Джо був задоволений, що його брат тепер керував машину повільніше. 7. Мері сиділа в кімнаті. На ній було теж саме плаття, й вона дивилася на трьох чоловіків, які стояли в протилежній частині кімнати.