Grammar Test - Past Tenses | SIMPLE, CONTINUOUS, PERFECT

Well hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.

Today I've got a quiz for you, a narrative tenses quiz.

It's gonna test your ability to use all of the past tenses in English,

that's right all of them.

Now I'm not going to lie, this quiz will really push your limits

but practising all of these tenses all at once

is going to help you to better understand how they fit together

and how they get used together

and that's going to help you to become a better English speaker,

especially when it comes to talking about past events

and experiences and telling stories.

So here on the mmmEnglish channel we've been talking a lot about

storytelling and about narrative tenses lately.

I've shared some really great grammar lessons to help you

understand and to practise some of the more complex parts

of the English language. This quiz, this challenge today

is going to test your understanding of past tenses, past perfect,

past continuous even past simple.

And I've added links down in the description to all of the grammar

lessons that I've made that are going to help you to study

and go deeper on some of the things that we'll test

today in this lesson.

The cool thing about that is you'll get to find out what you're really

comfortable and confident with

but we'll also work out what you need to work on a little more

or what you need to improve on.

So here's how today's quiz works.

I'm going to start off by telling you

the verb that I need you to think about

and then you'll see a sentence appear on screen just like this.

So the verb is write.

And I want you to put it into the past continuous tense.

You'll have a few seconds to write down your answer

before I read the correct one out loud.

She was writing an email.

So I know that was an easy one to get started

but there are three practice rounds, each one is going to focus on

a different tense. The first will be the past continuous.

The next, the past perfect simple and then

the past perfect continuous.

But the final round is longer and you'll need to think hard about

how these tenses work together, including the past simple tense

so you'll really get to put everything that we've been learning

over the last few weeks into practice.

As always if you have any questions, write them down

in the comments below.

If you have any example sentences you want me to check

or you want feedback on, drop them down there as well.

I'll be down there giving comments and guidance

and explanations as we need it.

All right let's get started!

Round one, past continuous.

Drive.

I was driving to work when it started to rain.

Wait.

They were waiting for the bus.

Do.

What were you doing when you heard the news?

Watch.

When the alarm went off, we were watching a movie.

Eat.

They were eating lunch when he arrived.

Okay round two.

We're talking about the past perfect simple.

Drive.

The train wasn't running but luckily I had driven to work.

Finish.

We had finished eating dinner by the time he finally arrived.

Not / Hear.

So this is a negative sentence.

I was shocked when you told me you hadn't heard the news.

Go.

The alarm went off for a second time.

It had gone off earlier in the week.

Eat.

They had already eaten lunch when I arrived.

Round three. This is the past perfect continuous.

Drive.

I had been driving behind Jim before the accident happened.

Wait.

We had been waiting for a long time

and the tram was still nowhere to be seen.

Follow.

We had been following the news closely, listening for updates.

Go off.

The alarm had been going off all week before they finally fixed it.

Eat.

They had been eating only salad for weeks and it showed.

Right so before we start the final round,

I want to find out which of the tenses we've practised

so far has been the most challenging for you.

Let me know down in the comments which one was the trickiest.

I'll be able to share a lesson or two that will help you out

and help you to study further.

Round four, narrative tenses all together!

So these sentences will be a little longer

and they'll all be connected together into a story.

So you'll need to work out which tense is the best one to use

with the information that you have.

Now it may be possible to use more than one in some of these

situations so don't stress too much

but remember, if you need a little bit more time to think

hit pause. There's no rush, you're in control.

Pause, have a think, write it down before you keep going.

Leave.

When I left the house this morning it was raining

Pour.

It was pouring with rain and the streets were flooded with water.

Listen.

I was listening to my favourite podcast

Pay, to pay attention.

and I was paying close attention to my feet

Not / want.

as I didn't want to slip in the rain.

Arrived.

When I arrived at the tram stop,

there must have been 50 people there!

Wait.

All of them were waiting for the tram.

Wait.

One woman said she'd been waiting for over an hour!

Notice.

Then I noticed the street was full of cars

Be.

The traffic was backed up as far as I could see.

Rain.

It had been raining all morning so the streets were very wet.

Cause.

All that rain had caused a car to slide through a red light

and into the oncoming traffic.

Call.

A man at the tram stop had already called the emergency services

Not / arrive.

but they hadn't arrived at the scene yet.

Help.

A nurse who had witnessed the accident

was helping the injured people.

Warn.

The evening news from yesterday

had warned of storms and wild weather.

Not / stop.

but the warnings hadn't stopped people

from driving in the storm.

Treat.

By the time the emergency services got to the scene,

the nurse had treated the injuries already.

Exchange.

And the drivers had exchanged insurance details.

So what did you think? Hopefully, you enjoyed the challenge.

The really cool thing is that you've been practising

your grammar, reminding yourself of these tenses

as we went through this video but you can also use this same quiz

to practise your speaking skills

because now you've got the answers, you can watch it again

but instead of thinking of the answers, say the sentence out  

loud because then you'll get to hear me say it and you'll get to

compare how you're pronouncing each of these words

and these expressions as we go.

Now there was probably a couple of answers that you're a little

on the fence about.

If you've watched any of the narrative tenses lessons

that I've prepared then you'll know that sometimes more than one

answer is possible so I've talked a little bit more about this

over on the mmmEnglish blog so if you want to go a little deeper

and try and understand a little bit more

then check out the link in the description or this one up here.

So a great way to really lock in everything that you've been

learning through this lesson and through the grammar lessons

on the channel is to start writing your own story.

Now I'd love to hear about something that happened to you

recently, something funny, something annoying,

something strange that you witnessed, whatever it is.

Tell me about it down in the comments. I'll be reading all of your

wonderful stories with a cup of tea and giving you

any tips and advice as I see that I need to.

So thank you so much for watching,

looking forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

Bye for now.