Fill in the Blanks Fill in the Blanks: Simple Past and Past ProgressiveOnline version Test your knowledge of the simple past and past progressive tenses with this fill in the blanks game! by Mark Masloski 1 main simple finished be' irregular present verbs progressive ed time ongoing The past tense is used to talk about actions that happened at a specific in the past . The past tense is used to talk about actions that were happening at a specific time in the past . The simple past tense is formed by adding - to the base form of regular , or by using the irregular form of verbs . The past progressive tense is formed by using the past tense of the verb 'to ( was / were ) and adding the participle ( - ing ) form of the verb .