CELSA Verb Tense and Form 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: While Maria ______ dinner, the phone rang.
- cooked
- was cooking (Correct answer)
- has cooked
- had cooked
Correct answer: was cooking
Past continuous ('was cooking') describes an action in progress when another past action (the phone ringing) interrupted it.
Question 2: By the time the ambulance arrived, the patient ______ consciousness.
- lost
- was losing
- had lost (Correct answer)
- has lost
Correct answer: had lost
Past perfect ('had lost') shows the loss of consciousness happened before the ambulance arrived.
Question 3: When I was a child, I ______ walk to school every day.
- used to (Correct answer)
- was used to
- had used to
- am used to
Correct answer: used to
'Used to' expresses a past habit or routine that no longer occurs.
Question 4: The team ______ the project last Friday after months of hard work.
- has completed
- completes
- completed (Correct answer)
- had been completing
Correct answer: completed
Simple past ('completed') is correct because 'last Friday' is a specific finished time in the past.
Question 5: She ______ at the company for ten years before she retired.
- worked
- has worked
- had worked (Correct answer)
- was working
Correct answer: had worked
Past perfect ('had worked') links the ten years of work to the prior moment before her retirement.
Question 6: The children ______ in the pool when the storm started.
- swam
- swim
- were swimming (Correct answer)
- had swum
Correct answer: were swimming
Past continuous ('were swimming') shows the activity was in progress when the storm started.
Question 7: Which sentence uses 'would' correctly to describe a past habit?
- She would live in Paris now.
- Every summer, they would visit their grandparents. (Correct answer)
- He would have finished if he tried.
- I would be a doctor last year.
Correct answer: Every summer, they would visit their grandparents.
'Would + base verb' can describe a repeated past habit, as in 'every summer, they would visit.'
CELSA Verb Tense and Form 2
While Maria ______ dinner, the phone rang.