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com

Here are some quick exercises to practice the Past Simple.

Tip: Look at the end of this document for more information on how to form regular
verbs in the past.

Past Simple (Regular) Revision Exercises

1. I (ask) him his name and he (answer) that his name was Mark.
2. Peter and James (invite) the girls out to the cinema.
3. The fire (burn) down the house. Thankfully no one was hurt.
4. The first time I saw the sad film I (cry) like a baby.
5. I (stop) at the bar to pick up a bottle of wine yesterday.
6. A friendly bus driver (change) my dollars into euro for free, wasn’t that kind!
7. My parents got divorced last year. They (argue) all the time.
8. Sean (drop) his iPhone on the floor and the screen broke. Now he has to buy a
new one.

Past Simple (Irregular) Revision Exercise

1. I (see) George last week – he was at school reading a book.

2. I (hurt) my leg running yesterday so today I am not going to the gym.
3. Your father (ring) while you were out.
4. Lunch was great. We (have) sushi, my favourite.
5. I (tear) tights on the chair. Now I can’t wear a skirt.
6. I (leave) my mobile phone at home this morning. I had to go back to pick it up.
7. I think you misunderstood me. I (mean) 'ship’ not 'sheep!
8. Alison (teach) me to speak English in a year. She was a great teacher.
9. I (go) on holiday to Malta last year. It was amazing.

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Do you know who wrote the songs Space Oddity and China Girl?
Read the text below to find out if you were right!

Student A has the 1st part and Student B has the second part. After you read your part
of the text tell your partner what you know.

Then answer the questions together.

Student A
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/ was born as David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947.
He is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger and has worked for
over five decades producing often changing his music and image. Many of todays’
musicians say that Bowie was a big influence on them.

David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when
the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK singles chart. After a three-
year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the
flamboyant and androgynous Ziggy Stardust.

In 1975, Bowie achieved the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon,
and the hit album Young Americans.

Student B
He performed with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", but
reached a commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which included the hit
singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love".

In the BBC's 2002 survey of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie ranked 29. Throughout his
career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums and ranks among the ten best-
selling acts in UK pop history. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on
their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time.

Text adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

Questions on David Bowie. Work together to answer the questions.

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1. What was David Bowie’s real name?

2. What was his other persona called ?
3. What was the name of his hit album where he achieved his first number one
single ?
4. Find words in the text which mean the same as the following:

• 50 years
• Look (noun)
• To come out again
• Extroverted
• You could be either male or female
• A study where people are interviewed to find out their opinion on something

5. Name 2 famous people David Bowie has performed with in the past.
6. Which magazine considered Bowie to be one of the most influential artists of
all time?

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Answers

Past Simple (Regular) Revision Exercises

1. I asked him his name and he answered that his name was Mark.
2. Peter and James invited the girls out to the cinema.

3. The first time I saw the sad film I cried like a baby.
4. I stopped at the bar to pick up a bottle of wine yesterday.
5. A friendly bus driver changed my dollars into euro for free, wasn’t that kind!
6. My parents got divorced last year. They argued all the time.
7. Sean dropped his iPhone on the floor and the screen broke. Now he has to buy
a new one.

Past Simple (Irregular) Revision Exercise

1. I saw George last week – he was at school reading a book.

2. I hurt my leg running yesterday so today I am not going to the gym.
3. Your father rang while you were out.
4. Lunch was great. We had sushi, my favourite.
5. I tore tights on the chair. Now I can’t wear a skirt.
6. I left my mobile phone at home this morning. I had to go back to pick it up.
7. I think you misunderstood me. I meant 'ship’ not 'sheep!
8. Alison taught me to speak English in a year. She was a great teacher.

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9. I went to Malta on holiday last year. It was amazing

Answers to Questions on David Bowie

i.
2. What was David Bowie’s real name? David Robert Jones
3. What was his other persona called ? Ziggy Stardust
4. What was the name of his hit album where he achieved his first number
one single ? Young Americans
5. Find words in the text which mean the same as the following:

• 50 years 5 decades
• Look (noun) image
• To come out again re-emerge
• Extroverted flamboyant
• You could be either male or female androgenous
• A study where people are interviewed to find out their opinion on
something survey

6. Name 2 famous people David Bowie has performed with in the past. John
Lennon and Queen to name a few.
7. Which magazine considered Bowie to be one of the most influential
artists of all time? Rolling Stone Magazine.

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SPELLING RULES FOR REGULAR VERBS

1. Most regular verbs simply add -ed and -ing to the simple form (base form).

Examples:

listen listened listening

work worked working

2. If a verb ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant (VC), and the vowel
has a strong stress, the final consonant is doubled before adding -ed or -ing.

Examples:

stop stopped stopping

permit permitted permitting

If the verb ends in two vowels and a consonant (VVC), or one vowel and two
consonants (VCC), we do not double the final consonant. In other words, we only
double the final consonant when we have the VC pattern explained above.

Examples:

rain rained raining

start started starting

3. In the case of verbs that end in -e, we only add -d to form the past tense, and we
omit the -e before adding -ing.

Examples:

grate grated grating

hope hoped hoping

4. There are two rules for verbs that end in -y:

a. If the verb ends in a vowel plus y (Vy), we simply add -s, -ed, or -ing.

Example:

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play plays played playing

b. If the verb ends in a consonant plus y (Cy), we change the y to i and add -es or -ed.
In the case of -ing, we do not change the y.

Example:

study studies studied studying