Past simple

A Look at the exercise A on the previous page. Rewrite statements, questions and answers, using the past simple tense.

B Give the past forms of these regular verbs. Make up negative sentences, general questions.

1. We … an hour yesterday (wait)

2. Joan … her room on Friday (clean)

3. I … squash last night (play)

4. She … my letter yesterday (post)

5. I … at her (smile)

6. She … when she saw me (stop)

7. I … of you last night (dream)

8. _{He … a lot as a baby (cry)}

9. I … TV all evening (watch)

10. We … when we saw them (laugh)

11. He … the sergeant's orders (obey)

12. We … into the house (hurry)

13. You … to me! (lie)

14. I … early yesterday (finish)

15. I … the door before I left (lock)

16. We … first class (travel)

C Put in the correct forms of the simple past tense of the verbs in brackets. Ask to the text one general and one special question.

LIZARDMAN

Christopher Davis, a young driver from South Carolina, (claim)¹ a monster (attack)² him while he was driving along a lonely road. The monster (be)³ seven feet tall and (have)⁴ red eyes and green, scaly skin. It (chase)⁵ Christopher's car and (jump)⁶ on the roof. Many people (believe)⁷ the story and the newspapers (call)⁸ the monster 'Lizardman'. Seventy hunters recently (set out)⁹ to trap Llzardman and a local radio (offer)¹⁰....$1 million to anyone who (capture)¹¹ him dead or alive. Lizardman had so much publicity that thousands of people (visit)¹² South Carolina to find him. No one has found him yet. As everyone knows, monsters may or may not exist, but they are very good for the tourist industry!

D Write the correct past forms in the newspaper reports below. Use the verbs in brackets. Make up one alternative and one tag-question to the text.

Report 1

Ten-year-old Ann Burns 1 … (swim) over 40 metres yesterday to rescue her younger brother when he 2 … (fall) from a boat in Poole harbour. She 3 … (catch) the exhausted boy by the hair and 4 … (bring) him safely to the shore. Then, finding that he was unconscious, she 5 … (revive) him by giving him the 'kiss of life'.

Report 2

Police who 6 … (stop) a speeding car yesterday after a ten-mile chase 7 … (discover) that the driver was Mr Phelps of Newcastle, aged 103. Mr Phelps 8 … (learn) to drive in 1906. 'I 9 … (see) the car in my mirror', 10 … (say) Mr Phelps, but I 11 … (have) no idea it was the police. I 12 … (put) my foot down and 13 … (drive) off quickly down the motorway because I 14 … (think) the other car was too close behind me.'

Report 3

During yesterday's severe storms, lightning 15 … (strike) an office building in the centre of York. It 16 … (start) a fire which 17 … (destroy) the upper floor of the building and 18 … (cause) £200,000 worth of damage. It 19 … (take) firemen over four hours to put out the fire.

E The news editor got the newspaper reports by telephone. However, the telephone line was very bad. She did not hear a lot of phrases and had to ask for the information to be repeated. Write questions which the editor asked, as in the example.

1) When she did not hear 40metres (after verb 1) she asked: How far did she swim?

2) When she did not hear the word shore (after verb 4) she asked …

3) When she did not hear by giving him “the kiss of life” (after verb 5) she asked …

4) When she did not hear £200,000 worth of damage (after verb 18) she asked …

5) When she did not hear over four hours (after verb 19) she asked …

F Make up a story using 20 irregular verbs (10-15 sentences).