3. Put each verb in brackets into a suitable past verb form. Only use the past perfect where this is...

1. While I was trying to get my car started, a passing car stopped and the driver offered to help me.
2. The police paid no attention to Jos complaint because she had phoned them so many times before.
3. Mary was not wearing her glasses at the time, so she did not notice what kind of car the man was driving.
4. Nick lay down on the grass for a while, next to some tourists who were feeding the ducks.
5. Tony admitted that he had hit the other car, but said that he had not damaged it.
6. Sorry, I wasn't listening to you. I was thinking about something else.
7. Helen felt very tired, and when she finished her work, she fell asleep.
8. The police got to Tom's house as fast as they could, but the burglars had disappeared.
9. I phoned you last night but you didn't answer. What were you doing?

Sure, I'll help fill in the blanks with the appropriate past verb forms:

1. While I was trying to get my car started, a passing car stopped and the driver offered to help me.
2. The police paid no attention to Jo's complaint because she had phoned them so many times before.
3. Mary was not wearing her glasses at the time, so she did not notice what kind of car the man was driving.
4. Nick lay down on the grass for a while, next to some tourists who were feeding the ducks.
5. Tony admitted that he had hit the other car, but said that he had not damaged it.
6. Sorry, I was not listening to you. I was thinking about something else.
7. Helen felt very tired, and when she had finished her work, she fell asleep.
8. The police got to Tom's house as fast as they could, but the burglars had disappeared.
9. I phoned you last night but you did not answer. What were you doing?

These responses use a mix of past simple, past continuous, and past perfect tenses to correctly express the timing and nature of the past actions described.