English Exercises > past simple exercises

Columbus Day




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1. Watch the video and fill in the gaps by putting the verbs in the past simple tense:  

 
a) Christopher Columbus  (is) born in Genoa Italy in 1451. While he  (is) a teenager he  (begins) exploring and eventually (comes) to call Portugal home.

 

b) He  (believes) that the East Indies could be reached by travelling west and  (wants) to prove it to the world.

 

c) He (asks)  many kings and queens from help paying for his journey but no one  (wants) to help him.

 

d) Finally, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain  (agree) to fund his exploration.

 

c) In 1942 Columbus (begins) his journey with his crew and three ships. They (sail) from Spain.

 

d) They  (travel) about 150 miles each day it  (is) a long journey.

 

e) On October 12 one of the crew members finally did spot land, it  (is) one of the Bahamas’ islands.   
 
 
2. Answer orally to the following questions:
 
a) What was the name of the 3 ships?
 
b) What did Columbus called the natives? 
 
c) Why did he called him that? 
 
d) Why is Columbus Day celebrated?