Past simple or continuous put the verb in brackets past simple or the past continuous. 1. last week. i decided (decide) to invite some friends over for dinner. i (buy) lots of delicious food, including some parma ham. at about 6: 00 i (cook) in the kitchen. the sun (shine) and it (be) a beautiful evening , so i (open) the back door. then the telephone (ring). i (go) to answer it and when i (come) back the ham (not be) on the table. i (look) out of the window. a cat (sit) on my garden wall and it ) my ham. what (can) i do? i ) a pan with water and (go) quietly outside. the cat (not look) in my direction, and it (enjoy) the ham so much that it (not hear) me. i (walk) slowly up to it - i (want) to empty the water over its head. a bit cruel, i know, but the ham (be) very expensive! but at the last moment the cat (hear) me, (jump) over the wall, and (escape).

1. Last week. I decided (decide) to invite some friends over for dinner. I (bought) lots of delicious food, including some Parma ham. At about 6:00 I (was cooking) in the kitchen. The sun (was shining) and it (was) a beautiful evening , so I (opened) the back door. Then the telephone (rang). I (went) to answer it and when I (came) back the ham (was not ) on the table. I (looked) out of the window. A cat (was sitting) on my garden wall and it (was eating) my ham. What (could) I do? I (filled) a pan with water and (went) quietly outside. The cat (was not looking) in my direction, and it (was enjoying) the ham so much That it (did not hear) me. I (walked) slowly up to it - I (wanted) to empty the water over its head. A bit cruel, I know, but the ham (was) very expensive! But at the last moment the cat (heard) me, (jumped) over the wall, and (escaped).

Last week, I decided to invite some friends over for dinner. I bought lots of delicious food, including some parma ham. At about 6:00, I was cooking in the kitchen. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful evening, so I opened the back door. Then the telephone rang. I went to answer it and when I came back, the ham was not on the table. I looked out of the window and saw that a cat was sitting on my garden wall and it had taken my ham. I wondered what I could do. I grabbed a pan with water and quietly went outside. The cat was not looking in my direction, and it was enjoying the ham so much that it didn't hear me. I walked slowly up to it - I wanted to empty the water over its head. I know it was a bit cruel, but the ham was very expensive! But at the last moment, the cat heard me, jumped over the wall, and escaped.

In this passage, we are talking about past events, so we need to use the past simple and past continuous tenses to describe the actions. The past simple tense is used to talk about actions that were completed in the past, while the past continuous tense is used to talk about actions that were happening at a specific point in the past or were in progress.

Here are the verb forms in past simple and past continuous:

1. Last week, I decided (past simple) to invite some friends over for dinner.
2. I bought (past simple) lots of delicious food, including some parma ham.
3. At about 6:00, I was cooking (past continuous) in the kitchen.
4. The sun was shining (past continuous) and it was a beautiful evening.
5. So I opened (past simple) the back door.
6. Then the telephone rang (past simple).
7. I went (past simple) to answer it.
8. When I came (past simple) back, the ham was not (past continuous) on the table.
9. I looked (past simple) out of the window.
10. A cat was sitting (past continuous) on my garden wall.
11. It had taken (past simple) my ham.
12. What could (past simple) I do?
13. I grabbed (past simple) a pan with water.
14. I went (past simple) quietly outside.
15. The cat was not looking (past continuous) in my direction.
16. It was enjoying (past continuous) the ham so much that it didn't (past simple) hear me.
17. I walked (past simple) slowly up to it.
18. I wanted (past simple) to empty the water over its head.
19. The ham was (past continuous) very expensive.
20. But at the last moment, the cat heard (past simple) me, jumped (past simple) over the wall, and escaped (past simple).

Using both past simple and past continuous helps to create a clear and detailed description of the events and actions that happened in the past.