Underlining:

My mother never wants me in the kitchen. She knows of my messy WAYS. One day, there is no one at HOME. Mother has gone grocery shopping. I decide to prepare my breakfast. The  neat rows of eggs in a tray fascinate me. I think of starting with an omelette. I know the  basics. So, I start by chopping onions and tomatoes. Chopping the tomatoes is a messy  job, but the onions are worse; they make my eyes water. However, I do not give up! Then,  it is time to crack the egg. I crack it too hard, and small pieces of shells too fall into the  bowl. They slip off the fork as I try to get them out. After a great struggle, I manage to have  them out. I pour the beaten eggs along with the tomatoes and onions in the pan. It seems  to be cooking well. I toss the omelette to cook the other side and soon have it on my plate.  One bite, and I REALISE I have forgotten to add any spices. Phew!​

Converting to the corresponding past tense:

My mother never wanted me in the kitchen. She knew of my messy ways. One day, there was no one at home. Mother had gone grocery shopping. I decided to prepare my breakfast. The  neat rows of eggs in a tray fascinated me. I THOUGHT of starting with an omelette. I knew the  basics. So, I started by chopping onions and tomatoes. Chopping the tomatoes was a messy  job, but the onions were worse; they made my eyes water. However, I did not give up! Then,  it was time to crack the egg. I cracked it too hard, and small pieces of shells too fell into the  bowl. They sliped off the fork as I tried to get them out. After a great struggle, I managed to have  them out. I poured the beaten eggs along with the tomatoes and onions in the pan. It seemed  to be cooking well. I tossed the omelette to cook the other side and soon had it on my plate.  One bite, and I realiseed I had forgotten to add any spices. Phew!​

Knowledge Bytes:

→ Converting sentences in present tense to their corresponding past tense:

✳ Simple present tense - Simple past tense

✳ Present continuous tense - Past continuous tense

✳ Present perfect tense - Past perfect tense

✳ Present perfect continuous tense - Past perfect continuous tense

Some examples are given below:

1. I know her very well. --- Simple present tense

  I knew her very well. --- Simple past tense

2. I am going to school. --- Present continuous tense

   I was going to school. --- Past continuous tense

3. I have eaten my lunch. --- Present perfect tense

   I had eaten my lunch. --- Past perfect tense

4. I have been watching for the past few hours. --- Present perfect continuous tense

   I had been watching her for the past few hours. --- Past perfect continuous tense