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  • Past simple – Form and use

    Exercise 3

    Fill in the gaps with the correct past simple forms of the verbs in brackets.

    Two summers ago we 1 (have) a holiday in Scotland. We 2 (drive) there from London, but our car 3 (break) down on the motorway and we 4 (spend) the first night in Birmingham. When we 5 (get) to Edinburgh we 6 (not can) find a good hotel - there 7 (not be) any available rooms. We 8 (not know) what to do but in the end we 9 (find) a bed and breakfast and we 10 (stay) there for the week. We 11 (see) the castle, 12 (go) to the Arts Festival, and we 13 (buy) a lot of souvenirs. We 14 (want) to go to Loch Ness but we 15 (not have) much time and it 16 (be) quite far away. The weather 17 (be) good, but it 18 (start) raining the day we 19 (leave). We 20 (have) a great time.


     

  • Past simple – Form

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    Spelling of regular verbs

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    Past simple – Use

    Completed actions in the past

    We use the past simple to talk about actions or events that happened in the past. We know, or we say, when the events happened.

    • I saw Jim yesterday. 
    • We didn’t go out last Saturday. We stayed at home.
    • She moved to Chester three years ago.

    Past habits

    We use the past simple to talk about past habits (things that we did more or less often).

    • She washed her hair every day.
    • She worked as a nurse.
    • I often played in the park when we were children. 

    Situations that were true in the past

    We also use the past simple to talk about things that were true in the past.

    • My grandfather had two brothers.
    • He lived with my grandparents as a child. 

    Events in chronological order

    We use the past simple to describe the main events of a story in chronological order.

    • When I arrived home, I took off my shoes and then I relaxed on the sofa.
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