Exercise 1
Use the simple past or the past progressive in the following.
1. I (read) ____________________________ only two chapters last week.
2. I (read) _________________________ a book last night when you called.
3. I (call) _______________________ John at nine last night, but he (be, not)
__________________ at home. He (study) ____________________________
at the library.
4. I (hear, not) _______________________ the thunder during the storm last night
because I (sleep) _________________________.
5. My brother and sister (argue) _______________________ about something when
I (walk) _________________________ into the room.
6. When I (open) ______________________ the package, I (find) ______________
_________ a surprise.
7. He (climb) ________________________ the stairs when he (trip) _____________
and (fall) _______________________. Luckily, he (hurt, not) __________________
himself.
8. While I (read) ___________________________ the little boy a story, he (fall)
_________________________ asleep, so I (close) __________________________
the book and quietly (tiptoe) __________________________ out of the room.
Exercise 2
How jeans came to America
Put the verbs in brackets in the past simple or past continuous.
Levi Strauss came (come) from a small town in the south of Germany. When he 1___________ (be)
a young man, he2__________________ (fall) in love with the
mayor's daughter.
11
But the mayor and Levi's parents 3_______________________(not want) them to
marry. Levi's parents _____________________ (send) him away to New York where his
brothers 5________________________ (live). They6______________________
(be) tailors and they7____________________ (teach) him to sew. In 1850, Levi
_______________________ (take) some sailcloth from New York to San
Francisco when he _________________________ (meet) some men. They
10 _____________________________(dig) for gold in the streams and rivers. The
weather was bad. It ________________________ 11 (rain) and the wind 12
_____________________________ (blow). The men were cold because they (wear)13
___________________________thin trousers.
Suddenly Levi 14______________________(have) an idea. He 15 ____________
(use) the sailcloth which he16 _____________________ (transport) to make
trousers for the men. Then he 17___________________________________(sew) on metal studs
to make them stronger.
The men 18 ____________________________ (love) the trousers but they 19
________________________________________(not like) the yellow-grey colour. So when Levi
Strauss 20______________________(open) a tailor's shop in San Francisco, he 21
_______________________ (import) a special thick blue material from Nimes in
France. That's how jeans 22 _________________________(become) blue.
Exercise 3 Where did he come from?
Use the words in brackets to write questions about Levi Strauss. He came from
Germany. (Where ...................from)
'Where did he come from?
12
1 His parents sent him to America)
________________________________________________________________
2 His brothers taught him to sew.)
________________________________________________________________
3 In 1850 he set out for San Francisco.
________________________________________________________________
4 He met some prospectors on the way.
_________________________________________________________________
5 They were digging in a river.
_________________________________________________________________
6 They were wearing thin trousers.)
_________________________________________________________________
7 He was taking sailcloth to California.
_________________________________________________________________
8 He made trousers from the sailcloth.
(_________________________________________________________________
9 The men didn't like the colour_____________________________________
10 He imported blue material from France.)
_______________________________________________________
