- •I. Past Simple vs. Past Continuous.
- •1. Complete the text with the verbs in the box (there is one verb too many). You will need five past progressives and three simple pasts.
- •2. Complete each paragraph with one set of verbs, using the past simple or past continuous.
- •3. Complete the sentences using these pairs of verbs. Use the past simple in one space and the past continuous in the other.
- •4. Complete this text with either the past simple or the past continuous form of the verbs in brackets. Where alternatives are possible, think about any difference in meaning.
- •II Past Simple vs. Past Perfect.
- •5. Use the Past Simple or the Past Perfect to complete the sentences:
- •6. Underline the correct answers. In some cases only one is correct, and in others both are correct.
- •7. Complete this text with these verbs.
- •III Past Perfect vs. Past Perfect Continuous.
- •8. Complete the sentences with one of these verbs, using the same verb for each sentence in the pair. Use the past perfect continuous if possible; if not, use the past perfect.
- •9. Choose the past perfect continuous form of the verb if appropriate; if not, use the past perfect.
- •10. Study this conversation extract. If the underlined verbs are correct, write “V”. If they are wrong, correct them using either the past perfect (active or passive) or past perfect continuous.
- •11. Complete this text with these verbs in the past perfect or past perfect continuous.
- •IV Tense Revision.
- •12. Choose the right tenses:
- •13. Complete the two texts about World War I with the correct form of the verb in brackets.
- •14. Underline the correct form.
- •15. Choose a novel or story, and select one or two pages. Make a list of the past tenses used on these pages. Are these the only tenses possible, or are others also acceptable?
- •2. Life without phrasal verbs
- •3. Complete the sentences with the corresponding prepositions.
- •1. Grammar. Choose the correct answer.
- •2. Vocab. Translate parts of the following sentences using the active vocabulary.
9. Choose the past perfect continuous form of the verb if appropriate; if not, use the past perfect.
1. Mrs Bishop................. to have children for years; then she finally became pregnant at the age of 45. (try)
2 This was the first time we had been to the castle, even though we ……… Edinburgh a few times before, (visit)
3 She bought her first watch at the age of 8. It ……… two pounds. (cost)
4 Meg James................... children's stories for 10 years when she got her first book published. (write)
5. For some time Mark ……….. about passing the exams and eventually decided to change the course he was taking, (worry)
6. My teacher was really annoyed with me. It was the third time I ………… late for school that week, (arrive)
7. I always...... it would be easy to get a job, and was disappointed to be rejected, (believe)
8. We about Sue when, to our amazement, she walked through the door, (talk)
10. Study this conversation extract. If the underlined verbs are correct, write “V”. If they are wrong, correct them using either the past perfect (active or passive) or past perfect continuous.
A: How was your weekend?
B: Not great, actually. I (1) 'd really been looking forward to a relaxing couple of days. But early on Saturday morning Mum phoned to say that Dad (2) had been taking ill.
A: Oh, no! What (3) had happened?
B: She (4) had just been hearing that he (5) had been flown by helicopter to hospital in Edinburgh from a village called Contin where he (6) had fished with my Uncle Mark.
A: And is he okay? What's wrong with him?
B: Well, Uncle Mark said that Dad (7) had been complaining of a bad headache most of yesterday, but he (8) hadn't been wanting to go back to the hotel and spoil the day. But then in the evening, just as they (9) had stopped fishing for the day, he (10) had been collapsing...
11. Complete this text with these verbs in the past perfect or past perfect continuous.
Be catch live plan take break have make remove worry
The telephone call from the police was a shock, but not a complete surprise. Molly (1) constantly about the old house lying empty during the two months since her mother went into hospital. She (2) to go round and check the empty place, but she (3) extra busy at work recently.
According to the police, a homeless man (4) into the house. They (5) him one morning as he was leaving the building with one of her mother's large paintings. When Molly walked into the house, it was obvious that the man (6) there for quite a while. He (7) food from the cupboards and throwing empty tins and packages all over the floor. He (8) quite a mess. He (9) also several paintings from the walls. Molly decided not to tell her mother because she (10) already enough pain in recent weeks and really didn't need any more bad news.
IV Tense Revision.
12. Choose the right tenses:
Last weekend, Cathy 1) (hire) a car and 2) (drive) to the seaside. When she 3) (arrive) the wind 4) (blow) and the sky 5) (be) cloudy. She 6) (get out) of the car and 7) (take) a walk along the seafront. Then she 8) (decide) to go for fish and chips at a nearby restaurant that she 9) (see) earlier and liked the look of. By the time she 10) (leave) the restaurant, it 11) (already/grow) dark. As she 12) (walk) to her car it 13) (begin) to rain. However, Cathy 14) (not/mind) because she 15) (have) a wonderful day.
The Little Girl and the Wolf
One afternoon a big wolf (1 wait) in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she (2 carry) a basket of food. 'Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?' asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf (3 ask) her where her grandmother lived and the little girl (4 tell) him and he (5 disappear) into the wood.
When the little girl (6 open) the door of her grandmother's house she (7 see) that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She (8 approach) no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she (9 see) that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf does not look in the least like anybody's grandmother. So the little girl (10 take) an automatic pistol out of her basket and (11 shoot) the wolf dead.
Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.
James Thurber: Fables for Our Time
Rioting students battle against police
May 7 (1968). In the last two days, Paris (12 see) the worst street-fighting since the Liberation in 1944. Up to 30,000 students, locked out of their own campus yesterday by the Sorbonne rector, Jean Roche, (13 fight) the tear gas of the riot police with barricades, bricks, paving stones and Molotov cocktails.
The trouble (14 ferment) for some time. On March 20, six students (15 arrest) after an anti-American demonstration; the next day, a mass sit-in at the Nanterre campus (16 begin). Last Friday, the police – whose alleged brutality is said to have sparked off the violence - forcibly evicted the students, who (17 lead) by Daniel Cohn-Bendit.
All day yesterday, the Latin Quarter (17 be) the arena for running street fights centred on the Boulevard St Germain. Chronicle of the 20th Century