WORKSHEET

A. NARRATIVE TENSES

Put the verbs in brackets in the past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple or past
perfect continuous.

1. This time last year I ______________ (live) in Madrid.

2. Sally was exhausted. She ____________________ (chop) wood all afternoon.
3. Terry __________________ (stop) at a petrol station on the way to the party.
4. I was surprised to see Tom at the cinema as he _____________ (say) he couldn’t
come.
5. I __________________ (work) at my computer when I heard a strange noise
downstairs.
6. I ___________________ (see) Tilda outside the post office a few minutes ago.
7. We ______________________ (chat) for a while when I noticed a smell of burning.
8. The man sitting next to me on the plane was nervous because he
_______________(not fly) before.
9. ________________(you know) that Simon has got into the national swimming team?
10. Sam and Mike _________________ (prepare) the food while Tina was cleaning the
living room.
11. I _________________ (not realise) how many CDs my sister had until I walked into
her room at the weekend.
12. I ___________________ (think) about applying for a job at my local supermarket for
some time when I saw a sign saying they needed more check-out assistants.
13. She _________________ (burst) into tears when she heard the news.
14. He _______________ (work) in the army for 20 years before he retired.
15. I __________________ (have) a very strange dream last night.

B. Continue the extract from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with a few sentences of
your own.
Alice was wondering what to do next when she realized there was now a small bottle
on the glass table with a label saying ‘Drink me’ beautifully printed on it in large
letters. It was all very well to say ‘Drink me’, but the wise little Alice….