Past tenses (2)

It was a lovely Sunday morning. The sun __________ (shine). The birds __________ (sing).

• shone; sang

• was shining; sang

• shone; were singing

• was shining; were singing

Last Tuesday, while I __________ (sleep), my phone suddenly __________ (ring).

• slept; rang

• was sleeping; rang

• slept; was ringing

• was sleeping; was ringing

My grandmother __________ (work) as a teacher before she __________ (become) an office clerk. She has recently retired.

• worked; became

• worked; had become

• had worked; became

• had worked; had become

At that time, I didn't know what to do, so I __________ (seek) help from my friends.

Yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon finishing my homework. By 7 pm when I had dinner, I __________ (submit) all of my homework for the day.

If I __________ (be) a billionaire, I __________ (buy) the most expensive mansion in Hong Kong. Sadly, I don't think I'll ever have that much money.

• was; bought

• were; bought

• was; would buy

• were; would buy

What do we use the past perfect continuous tense for?

• all past actions

• actions which happened during a specific time in the past

• actions which happened and ended momentarily before another past action

• actions which took place over a period of time or repeatedly before another past action

Our company had an amazing CEO. She __________ (work) in our company for over 40 years. Recently, she has set up a charity and she is working there now.

After he __________ (shake) the tree for ten minutes, a coconut finally fell down.

• shook

• was shaking

• had shook

• had been shaking

What should __________ be?

This stationery shop had been operating __________.

• for almost a century and is still going strong

• for three days and it suddenly closed down

• from 1901 to 2021

• on 5 January, 1987