Question

Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tenses: Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous. Use used to or would in front of the verb where possible:
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in 1889 in London. He (1)… (have) a very difficult childhood. As a boy, Charlie (2) … (work) to earn his living, and before he was fifteen, he (3) … (see) his mother from backstage while she (4) … (perform) and it was then that he first (5) … (think) about taking up such a career for himself.
When Chaplin (6) … (tour) the US twice with the famous Fred Karno group, he was headhunted by the American Keystone film company. He (7) … (work) for them for three years before he discovered he could direct for himself.
Along with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Chaplin (8) … (form) United Artists in 1919, with whom he (9) … (make) most of his classic films. He (10) … (appear) in his first talking film, The Great Dictator, in 1940.
In 1952, after McCarthy’s Commission (11) … (accuse) him of communist sympathies he (12) …(emigrate) to Switzerland, where he (13) … (live) with his family until his death in 1977.

Answer 1

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in 1889 in London. He (1)… (had) a very difficult childhood. As a boy, Charlie (2) … (worked) to earn his living, and before he was fifteen, he (3) … (saw) his mother from backstage while she (4) … (was performing) and it was then that he first (5) … (though) about taking up such a career for himself.
When Chaplin (6) … (was touring) the US twice with the famous Fred Karno group, he was headhunted by the American Keystone film company. He (7) … (had worked) for them for three years before he discovered he could direct for himself.
Along with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Chaplin (8) … (formed) United Artists in 1919, with whom he (9) … (made) most of his classic films. He (10) … (appeared) in his first talking film, The Great Dictator, in 1940.
In 1952, after McCarthy’s Commission (11) … (accused) him of communist sympathies he (12) …(emigrated) to Switzerland, where he (13) … (lived) with his family until his death in 1977.