Exercises: Simple Past Tense

Exercise 1
Change the verbs in the brackets to the simple past tense.

Twenty-four-year-old Bettie Van Metre was living alone in the Shenandoah Valley with her little niece and two former slaves. Her husband (1) __________(be) in a Union prison camp. She, her niece and workers (2)__________(have) little to eat on their farm. When she (3) __________(hear) about a mortally wounded Union soldier left to die in a house nearby, she (4) __________(decide) to check on him and give him some food.

When Bettie (5) __________(enter) the room, the awful stench from Bedell’s wounds (6)__________(make) her recoil. She (7) __________(watch) him cover his face with his blanket. She (8) __________(open) the window for air and then (9) __________(realise) that he was sobbing. She (10) __________(put) her palm on his fevered brow and (11) __________(tell) him not to cry.

“You remind me of my wife,” he (12) __________(murmur). “Would you write a letter to my wife?” She (13) __________(ponder) this request. Clearly, he (14) __________(think) he was going to die and most probably he (15) __________(be) correct.