0123 F4 BIP Past Continuous

Is it true that Sir Isaac Newton understood gravity because an apple ​ (a)   on his head when he ​ (b)   under a tree in his garden? Probably not. However, many great and small discoveries are the result of lucky accidents ...

• fell
• was lying
• was falling
• laid

One day in 1879 chemist Constantin Fahlberg ​ (a)   his hands before dinner. While he ​ (b)   he ​ (c)   that the bread ​ (d)   sweet. The sweetness was saccharin.

• didn't wash
• was eating
• noticed
• tasted
• wasn't washing
• ate
• was tasting
• was noticing

Alexander Fleming ​ (a)   interested in the control of bacteria while he ​ (b)   as a doctor during the First World War. In 1928 he (9) tidied / was tidying his laboratory when he (10) saw / was seeing that one of the dirty dishes (11) didn’t have / wasn’t having any bacteria on it, but that something else (12) grew / was growing there. It was penicillin.

• became
• was working
• was becoming
• worked

In 1928 he ​ (a)   his laboratory when he ​ (b)   that one of the dirty dishes ​ (c)   any bacteria on it, but that something else ​ (d)   there. It was penicillin.

• was tidying
• saw
• didn't have
• was growing
• tidied
• was seeing
• wasn't having
• grew

In 1930 dietician Ruth Wakefield ​ (a)   some cookies for guests when she ​ (b)   that she had no chocolate powder. She ​ (c)   to use small pieces of ordinary chocolate instead. The chocolate pieces ​ (d)   , and the first chocolate chip cookies were a great success.

• was preparing
• realised
• decided
• didn't melt
• prepared
• was realising
• was deciding
• wasn't melting

Dr Percy Spencer was a physicist in the 1940s who probably enjoyed chocolate chip cookies. He ​ (a)   past some equipment in the laboratory when he ​ (b)   something strange in his pocket. It was his chocolate bar and it ​ (c)   . This accident ​ (d)   to the invention of a new piece of cooking equipment – the microwave oven.

• was walking
• felt
• was melting
• led
• walked
• was feeling
• melted
• was leading