A selection of English ESL past continuous printables

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

This is a time line I prepared on request of some of my students.  It mostly helped them picture the different uses of the tenses.  I hope it can be helpful :)

Time line for the present perfect/ continuous, past continuous, present continuous, past simple.

Originally, the exercise was created for Spotlight 7 (student book, used in Russia), the best it suits for Unit 4, right after Past Simple/Past Continuous difference is explained. According to the teacher's book, the level of SB is A2+ (pre-intermediate).
Most sentences are in Present Simple. 
Sentences for translation were taken from different webpages and adapted, now they are compiled in one exercise.
Some of these webpages: https://oose.ru/trenirovochnyie-uprazhneniya-present-continuous-tense-advanced/,  https://wika.tutoronline.ru/anglijskij-yazyk/class/2/podborka-zadanij-na-russkoyazychnyj-perevod-s-anglijskogo--

Translation exercise (Russian to English) Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous

here students have to choose between past simple or past continous to put the verbs in the correct from according to the meaning: I was having breakfast when someone came

what were you doing when the house caught fire? Past simple vs past continuous

The above printable, downloadable handout is intended for high school students and adults at Pre-intermediate (A2) and Intermediate (B1) level. It is aimed at revising Verb tenses in English.

MIXED TENSE REVISION: PRESENT SIMPLE, PRESENT CONTINUOUS, PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS, FUTURE, PRESENT PERFECT

The material contains grammar exercises for generalizing and systematizing students' knowledge of grammatical tenses (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Simple) and practicing practical formation skills sentences and the use of these time forms; the material can be used during face-to-face and distance learning.
Illustrations were taken from www.hiclipart.com
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-mwxyr/download
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-idhlu/download
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-iednr/download

Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future Simple

Students must read the text and fill in the gaps with the verbs given at the past continuous, the past simple or the past perfect. The story tells about a very bad joke!

Past tenses: a revision of the past continuous, the past simple and the past perfect.

This worksheet is to explain how to build sentences in  Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Future, Present Prefect Simple, Present Perfect Continuous.

There are also time expressions and explanation on how to use particular tenses.

Table (only theory): Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Future, Present Prefect Simple, Present Perfect Continuous

Another worksheet of the series “jobs”, designed for intermediate students. It contains a short text + 6 tasks + keys. The tasks are related to comprehension (2) + writing (1) + comparatives of equality (2) + past simple vs. past continuous (1). The keys are on the last page and the worksheet is completely editable / correctable. Hope it’s useful. Thanks for downloading and have a nice day!

Aren’t firefighters cool? – reading comprehension + grammar (comparative of equality, past simple vs. past continuous) [6 tasks] KEYS INCLUDED ((3 pages)) ***editable

To revise tenses: present simple vs present continuous, present perfect vs past simple, past simple vs past continuous vs past perfect
Students need to choose the correct tense in each sentence

To revise tenses: present simple vs present continuous, present perfect vs past simple, past simple vs past continuous vs past perfect

The material contains grammar exercise for generalizing and systematizing students' knowledge of grammatical tenses (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Simple) and practicing practical formation skills sentences and the use of this time form; the material can be used during face-to-face and distance learning.

Illustrations were taken from: https://www.hiclipart.com/
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-idhlu/download
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-dmcar/download
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-xxzzr
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-hbieh
https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-iccuq/download

Grammar Revision. Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Simple

Practice using the simple past tense by completing the  2 fairy tales.  Optional song for YL classes.  (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcJjCF5rWw  for the video)



1,538 Past continuous English ESL worksheets pdf & doc