IELTS Grammar Exercises | Unit 2: Grammar Exercises of Past Tenses

1. Fill in the gaps in this model answer with verbs from the box in the past simple.

Thanks to modern technology, there have been enormous changes in the workplace over the past 100 years.

What are the most significant changes that have occurred and what changes do you foresee in the next 100 years?

The pace of change in the world of technology is amazing. It (1)  wasn’t (not) long ago that the postal service (2) ………………. our only way to communicate over any distance. It (3) ………………. days and sometimes weeks to receive letters from within the same country. As a result, the news in the letters (4) ………………. already out of date when people (5) ………………. them. In the workplace, this (6) ……………….  that business was mostly conducted locally, over relatively short distances.

When Alexander Graham Bell (7) ………………. telephone in 1876 it (8) ………………. The foundation for the communication systems we have today. The telephone (9) ………………. two people to communicate instantly across a great distance. Eventually computers (10) ……………….. typewriters and dramatically (11) ………………. the speed of our daily work life. Nowadays the Internet is an essential part of every business.

However, it is not just communications that have changed. Only 50 years ago most people (12) ……………….  (not) a car People (13) ………………. to work or (14) ………………. bicycles. Changes in travel as well as the increased speed of communications have led to the global business world that we have today.

2. Fill in the gaps with the past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in brackets. In which gaps could you use used to?

I (1) … had…  (have) a wonderful biology teacher, Mrs Hughes. She (2) ……………. (make) us excited about the subject because she was so interested herself. I remember one lesson in particular; we (3) ……………. (study) different types of plants, and Mrs Hughes (4) …………….  (describe) the different parts of the flower. She (5) …………….  (pick up) a purple flower, I can’t remember exactly what it was, and then suddenly we (6) ……………. (notice) that she (7) ……………. (cry)! She (8) ……………. (apologise) and (9) ……………. (say) that sometimes nature was so beautiful it just made her cry! We (10) …………….  (not/know) what to do at first, but it certainly (11) …………….  (make) us think. Something similar 12 …………….  (happen) while she (13) ……………. (show) us how to work the microscope. She (14) ……………. (examine) a slide of some plant tissue and she (15) ……………. (smile) all over her face. She suddenly (16) …………….  (get) all excited and (17) …………….  (say), ‘Isn’t it wonderful?” Some students (18) ……………. (laugh) at her when she (19) ……………. (not/look) but I didn’t. Somehow her enthusiasm (20) ……………. (inspire) me, and I (21) ……………. (start) to like biology.

3. A teacher and student are talking about local customs. Fill in the gaps with the verbs in brackets in the correct form. Use would or used to where possible.

Teacher: What sort of things (1) … did you use to do … (you/do) as a child?

Yoko: Oh, when I was a child growing up in Japan there were many customs that we (2) ………… (follow). For example, I remember we (3) ………… (move) house when I was seven and we (4) …………   (visit) our new neighbours with gifts. At that time the tradition was that people (5) …………  (give) gifts of Japanese noodles, but it is different now and people tend to give things like soap or towels or nothing at all.

Teacher: (6) …………  (have) one tradition that you particularly remember?

Yoko: Yes, one tradition that I (7) …………  (really like) was in the spring when the cherry blossoms were out. As a family we (8) …………   (go) into the countryside and we (9) ………… (spend) the day eating, drinking and singing. One year my father (10) ………… (take) a lovely photo of me and my sisters and I still keep that picture on my wall today.

Teacher: And (11) ………… (you/have to) do anything you didn’t like?

Yoko: Yes. I remember how we (12) ………… (have to) clean the house thoroughly. This ceremony is called Osoji and my sisters and I (13) ………… (not/look forward to) it very much!

4. Read the test task and a student’s response. Tick (✔) the underlined verbs if they are right, and correct them if they are wrong.

I remember a trip I once (1) made to my grandmother’s house. She (2) would live about 30 kilometres away from us and we (3) used to going there quite often with our mother. On this occasion we (4) set off to my grandmother’s after school on a cold winter’s day. When we were about to leave we (5) were noticing that some snow was beginning to fall, and as we (6) were driving along we (7) were realising that it (8) snowed more and more heavily. Suddenly we had to brake hard as the car in front stopped suddenly. We (9) were skidding and (10) went off the road into a ditch! It was pretty scary, but we were lucky and none of us were hurt. We got out of the car, and my mother (11) was phoning for help on her mobile phone. While we (12) were waiting for help it (13) was stopping snowing and we (14) sang lots of songs to keep ourselves cheerful. Eventually the truck (15) was coming and pulled our car out of the ditch. The car wasn’t badly damaged, but we (16) decided to turn round and go home. We didn’t manage to see our grandmother that day, but it was so frightening that I will never forget it.