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Tenses Used in This Story

This story uses two types of present tense and two types of past tense: 

  1. the simple present tense is the most common present tense. It describes actions happening now or actions that happen regularly: She walks slowly. I walk to school every day. He is tall.
  2. the present continuous tense describes actions that are happening around (and including) the time when you are speaking:
    I am walking to the store now.
  3. the simple past tense describes an activity that took place (was completed) in the past: I walked to school yesterday.
  4. the past continuous tense describes an activity that was ongoing in the past at the time you are talking about: I was walking to school when I started to feel sick.

Story

“What happened to Billy?” Maria asked her friend Belinda.

“What are you talking about?” Belinda asked Maria.

“Billy was not at school today,” Maria explained. “No one told me why he wasn’t there.”

“I don’t know,” Belinda said. “Was he at school yesterday?”

“He was there, but he looked a little sick,” Maria said. “He was probably sick today.”

“I’m calling him right now,” said Belinda as she pulled out her phone and tapped on its screen.

The two girls waited. Soon they heard Billy’s voice.

“Hello,” Billy said. “How are you, Belinda?”

“I’m fine,” Belinda said. “Are you sick? You weren’t at school today.”

“I’m not sick,” Billy said, “but I did have an accident. I broke a bone in my foot. I was walking on top of a concrete wall near my house and I fell.”

“Oh no,” Belinda said. “Did you go to the doctor?”

“I did,” Billy said. “She said that it’s a small break. She wrapped my foot in something to keep it safe. She said I can go to school tomorrow if I’m careful.”

“That’s great news!” Belinda said.

“I am eating dinner,” Billy said. “I have to go.”

“Okay,” Belinda said. “Bye.”

The two girls were glad that Billy was okay.

Questions

Try to answer the questions with complete sentences. Example: Who was not at school? Don’t just answer ‘Billy’. Answer with a complete sentence: ‘Billy was not at school that day.'

  1. Who was not at school?

  2. Who noticed that he was not at school?

  3. Who didn’t notice that he was not at school?

  4. Why did Maria think that Billy was not at school?

  5. Who called Billy?

  6. What happened to Billy?

  7. Who did Billy go see after his accident?

  8. What did the doctor do?

  9. What did the doctor say about Billy going to school the next day?

  10. What was Billy doing when his friends called him?