Past Continuous · Exercises
C2Proficient practice
Passives, polite style and subtle tense contrasts.
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
- C2 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 C2
- Negatives: wasn’t / weren’t
- Questions: Were you…?
- Interrupted actions: when + past simple
- 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…
- Passive: was being done
- 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.
Write the verb in the past simple or past continuous.
When the referee blew the whistle, we _____ (stop) playing.
Show answer
When the referee blew the whistle, we stopped playing.
An immediate reaction to an event is a completed action: past simple (When the phone rang, she answered it).
Write the verb in the past simple or past continuous.
When the fire alarm went off, Ines and Adam _____ (leave) the building.
Show answer
When the fire alarm went off, Ines and Adam left the building.
An immediate reaction to an event is a completed action: past simple (When the phone rang, she answered it).
Is this sentence correct?
Aisha was deserving a holiday.
Show answer
Aisha deserved a holiday.
“was deserving” should be “deserved”. “deserve” is a state verb: use the past simple (deserved), not the past continuous.
Choose the passive form.
The suspect _____ (question) by the police while we were there.
Show answer
The suspect was being questioned by the police while we were there.
Past continuous passive: was / were + being + past participle (an action in progress then; who did it isn’t important).
Complete the complaint.
When we lived together, Olivia and Yuki _____ (always / fish) for compliments!
Show answer
When we lived together, Olivia and Yuki were always fishing for compliments!
was / were + always + -ing shows that a repeated habit in the past annoyed you. “Always” goes after was / were.
Complete the complaint.
On that trip, you _____ (always / pick) holes in my arguments!
Show answer
On that trip, you were always picking holes in my arguments!
was / were + always + -ing shows that a repeated habit in the past annoyed you. “Always” goes after was / were.