Past Continuous · Exercises
B2Upper intermediate practice
Past continuous vs. past simple, state verbs and complaints.
Play
- Practice10 exercises at your own pace
- Time Attack60 seconds, as many as you can
- Survival3 lives, harder as you go
- Tense SortDrag sentences into their tense — 60 seconds
- Timelines10 sentences to match to their timelines
- B2 Boss12 hits before you lose 3 lives
- Irregular MatchPair verbs with their past forms — 60 seconds
Want to mix tenses, go endless or pick exercise types? Set up your own session.
What you’ll practise at B2
- Negatives: wasn’t / weren’t
- Questions: Were you…?
- Short answers: Yes, I was / No, they weren’t
- What were you doing? (wh- questions)
- At a time in the past (at 8 pm yesterday)
- Interrupted actions: when + past simple
- while and background in stories
- Past continuous or past simple?
- State verbs (knew, wanted…)
- Annoying habits: was always + -ing
- Plans seen from the past (was leaving…)
- Polite requests: I was wondering if…
- Timelines: what the tense means
Need a refresher? Learn the past continuous: rules, tables and audio examples.
Sample exercises
A taste of what’s inside. In practice mode every exercise is freshly generated.
Find the word that is wrong.
Were my parents drafting a proposal? Yes, they was.
Show answer
Were my parents drafting a proposal? Yes, they were.
Short answers to Was / Were…? questions repeat was / were (not did): Yes, I was. / No, they weren’t.
Write the verb in the past continuous.
I _____ (wash) the dog when my phone buzzed.
Show answer
I was washing the dog when my phone buzzed.
The longer action in progress uses the past continuous (was / were + -ing); the short action that interrupts it uses the past simple, often after “when”.
Find the word that is wrong.
They wasn't weighing up the options.
Show answer
They weren't weighing up the options.
Negative: were not (weren't) + -ing. They weren't weighing up the options.
Turn the sentence into a question.
Tom was campaigning for a new park.
Show answer
Was Tom campaigning for a new park?
Questions: Was / Were + subject + -ing. Was Tom campaigning for a new park?
Put the words in order to make a question.
Yuki / what / investigating / was
Show answer
What was Yuki investigating?
Wh- questions: question word + was / were + subject + -ing? What were you doing?
Complete the past continuous sentence with when, while or during.
Our neighbour was washing the car _____ the cat jumped onto the table.
Show answer
Our neighbour was washing the car when the cat jumped onto the table.
“When” + past simple introduces the short action that interrupts; “while” + was / were + -ing an action in progress; “during” goes before a noun (during the film).