Grammar: The human story

VPast time expressions

1Imagine that today’s date is Tuesday 21st January 2014. Match the times and dates to the time expressions. 

21st November 2013

July 2004

18th / 19th January 2014

6.15 p.m., Monday 20th January 2014

January 2013

Sunday 19th January 2014

• two months ago
• last weekend
• last year
• the day before yesterday
• a decade ago
• yesterday evening

 V Past time expressions

2Replace the words in bold with past time expressions. Use the words in brackets to help you. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task. You also need to use correct punctuation.

• 1From 1810 to 1830, life was hard for the workers. (early)

• 2From 1900 to 2000, there was a lot of political change. (20th)

• 3I was very unhappy before. (past)

• 4My mum was at school between 1980 and 1989. (80s)

• 5From 1995 to 1999 mobile telephones were very popular. (late)

• 6I was a big fan of cartoons between the ages of three and seven! (little)

Past simple affirmative: regular verbs

3Complete the groups with the past simple form of the verbs in the box. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

MOVE
• carry
• chat
• decide
• play
• retire
• stop
• try
• walk

• 1Most regular verbs , 

• 2Verbs ending in -e , 

• 3Verbs ending in consonant -y , 

• 4Verbs ending in a short vowel and a consonant , 

Past simple affirmative: regular verbs

4Complete the sentences with the past simple affirmative form of the verbs in the box. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

MOVE
• dance
• disappear
• reply
• survive
• travel

• 1Last year my friends and I  around Europe by train.

• 2We can't find our cat. It  yesterday.

• 3Jennie  to my email on Monday.

• 4There was a terrible fire, but everyone in the building was lucky – they all .

• 5The party was great. We  all night!

Past simple affirmative: irregular verbs

5Correct the mistakes in bold in the sentences. 

• 1I haved had a bad cold.

• 2The train leaft at 3.30.

• 3They goed to drama club with me.

• 4Dad weared a uniform to work.

• 5I singed in a band.

• 6My grandparents comed to stay.

Past simple affirmative: irregular verbs

6Put the verbs in brackets in 1–5 into the past simple. Then match 1–5 to sentence endings a–e. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1We  (see)

• 2My mum  (write)

• 3In the noughties, many people  (think)

• 4DVDs  (become)

• 5When my mum was little, my grandmother  (make)

 a clothes for her.

 b her first email in 1995.

 c a new play at the theatre last weekend.

 d popular in the late 1990s.

 e that mobile phones with cameras were very expensive.

Past simple affirmative: irregular verbs

7Complete the text with the past simple affirmative form of the correct verbs in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

Perhaps the most important event in human history in recent years is the invention of the internet. In the mid 1960s, some computers ¹ (stop / use) telephone lines to communicate. Computer engineers 

²

 

(want / talk)

 

better communication and so they ³ (start / study) to study new ways of linking computers. In 1969, ARPANET, an early version of the internet, ⁴ (connect / say) the computers of four American universities.

In 1971, Ray Tomlinson ⁵ (write / hear) a computer programme for sending emails.

At the end of the 1970s, computers ⁶ (close / arrive) in the shops and by the early 1980s, computers 

⁷

 

(become / appear) in some schools for students to use. They were still very expensive and most weren't linked.

A big change ⁸ (use / come) in 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee ⁹ (think / find) of the World Wide Web – a system that every computer could use to communicate.

In the 1990s, sending emails and surfing the net ¹⁰ (become / want) part of everyday life.

8  Ask someone from an older generation when they first used computers and what they thought of them. For example, find out if computers were: easy to use? exciting? cheap to buy? something you used everyday? Write a short paragraph  Write your task in another program (e.g. Word).  Save the file to your computer.  Upload your file.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.  Select Submit to Dropbox to send your work to your teacher.