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Year 7 English — Tenses across a passage

Choose the tense each gap in a passage needs, using the time signals around it.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Complete with the simple past of "begin", in one word: The rain ____ at four o'clock and stopped at six.

  2. 2.Sort each sentence by whether its two verbs belong to the same time.

    Groups: Tenses agree · Tenses clash

    • The bell rang and everyone stands up.
    • The bell rang and everyone stood up.
    • We were walking home when it started to rain.
    • She switches on the lamp and reads for an hour.
    • We were walking home when it starts to rain.
    • She switched on the lamp and reads for an hour.

  3. 3.Complete with the past continuous of "wait", in two words: The passengers ____ on the platform when the announcement came.

  4. 4.Complete with the past perfect of "leave", in two words: The train ____ before we reached the platform.

  5. 5.A passage opens: "For six months the tap had run dry." What does that tense tell a reader about the story to come?

    • a) The dry tap is the background, and the story itself happens later.
    • b) The tap has never once been dry.
    • c) The tap is dry at this very moment.
    • d) The tap will run dry in the future.

  6. 6.Ravi ____ the letter when the postman knocked, so he put down his pen and opened the door.

    • a) has written
    • b) writes
    • c) was writing
    • d) wrote

  7. 7.Complete with the present perfect of "live", in two words: My grandmother ____ in this house since 1971.

  8. 8.The shop ____ at eight every morning, but today it ____ late.

    • a) is opening / opens
    • b) opens / opened
    • c) opened / opens
    • d) opens / is opening

Answer key — Year 7 English — Tenses across a passage

  1. 1. began
  2. 2. We were walking home when it started to rain. → Tenses agree; We were walking home when it starts to rain. → Tenses clash; The bell rang and everyone stood up. → Tenses agree; The bell rang and everyone stands up. → Tenses clash; She switches on the lamp and reads for an hour. → Tenses agree; She switched on the lamp and reads for an hour. → Tenses clash
  3. 3. were waiting
  4. 4. had left
  5. 5. a) The dry tap is the background, and the story itself happens later.
  6. 6. c) was writing
  7. 7. has lived
  8. 8. b) opens / opened