Verb Tense and Form Flashcards

While Maria ______ dinner, the phone rang.

Answer: was cooking

Past continuous ('was cooking') describes an action in progress when another past action (the phone ringing) interrupted it.

By the time the ambulance arrived, the patient ______ consciousness.

Answer: had lost

Past perfect ('had lost') shows the loss of consciousness happened before the ambulance arrived.

When I was a child, I ______ walk to school every day.

Answer: used to

'Used to' expresses a past habit or routine that no longer occurs.

The team ______ the project last Friday after months of hard work.

Answer: completed

Simple past ('completed') is correct because 'last Friday' is a specific finished time in the past.

She ______ at the company for ten years before she retired.

Answer: had worked

Past perfect ('had worked') links the ten years of work to the prior moment before her retirement.

The children ______ in the pool when the storm started.

Answer: were swimming

Past continuous ('were swimming') shows the activity was in progress when the storm started.

Which sentence uses 'would' correctly to describe a past habit?

Answer: Every summer, they would visit their grandparents.

'Would + base verb' can describe a repeated past habit, as in 'every summer, they would visit.'