THE PERFECT TENSE-FORMS

The Present Perfect Tense

Exercise 1. Put the verb in brackets into the Present Indefinite or the Present Perfect.

1. Look! They (stop). 2. I (want) to see you. I (not / see) you for ages! 3. “What (be) your name?” – “My name (be) always Cole.” 4. “You (read) this book?” – “Yes.” – “What you (think) of it?” 5. I (not / be) to a zoo before. It (be) a nice feeling to go somewhere you never (be) before. 6. “You (know) Nick?” – “Yes.” – “How long you (know) him?” – “I (know) him for 10 years.” 7. You (realize) we (know) each other for quite a period of time now? And this (be) the first occasion you (ask) me to come with you. 8. Come in, I (be) awake since sun-up. 9. It’ll be good to see him again. How long he (be) away? 10. I (know) you nearly all my life, but I never (see) you so excited about anything.

Exercise 2. Open the brackets using Present Continuous or Present Perfect.

1. What you (to talk) about? 2. We just (to talk) about it. 3. He just (to say) something about it. 4. He (to tell) us nothing about it. 5. We (to have) 5 lessons today. 6. They (to have) a meeting now. 7. She (not to speak) yet. 8. They (to ask) me several questions. 9. He already (to learn) the rule. 10. I (to write) an exercise now. 11. What he (to do)? – He (to read) a newspaper. 12. You (to read) any stories by London? 13. What you (to do) here? – I (to write) a letter to my friend. 14. What language you (to study)? 15. We already (to learn) a lot of English words. 16. You (to find) the book? 17. What you (to look) for here?

Exercise 3. Put in been or gone.

1. Where’s Paul? – He has … to the library. 2. We’ve … to the country today. Look, we’ve brought some flowers. 3. Where have you spent your holidays? – I’ve … to Italy. 4. Are you going to the shops? – No, I’ve just … to the shops. 5. Is Alex at home? – No, he’s … to the park. 6. Are they both out? – Yes, they’ve both … to the market.

Exercise 4. Translate the questions and the answers.

1. Когда ты в последний раз видел Аню? – Я не видел ее с мая. 2. Когда в последний раз шел дождь? – Дождя не было уже целую вечность. 3. Когда они навещали вас в последний раз? – Они не навещали нас с июня. 4. Когда ты в последний раз играл в теннис? – Я уже давно не играл в теннис. 5. Когда ты в последний раз ела кокос? – Я никогда не ела кокос. 6. Когда ты в последний раз водил машину? – Я не водил машину много месяцев. 7. Когда ты в последний раз ездил в Канаду. – Я никогда не ездил в Канаду. 8. Когда она тебе писала в последний раз? – Она не писала с прошлого лета.

Exercise 5. Translate into English.

1. Они построили новый дом. Ты его видел? 2. Ты показал маме свою картину? – Нет, она еще не готова. 3. Я посмотрел этот фильм. А ты? – Да. Это интересный фильм. 4. Я звоню тебе уже третий раз за вечер. 5. Ты был в Лондонском зоопарке? – Да. 6. Отец только что вернулся с моря. 7. Возьмите эти журналы. Я уже прочитал их. 8. Ты опоздала уже второй раз на этой недели. 9. Вы были когда-нибудь в Греции? – Да, это очень красивая страна. 10. Мы еще не сделали опыт. 11. Она никогда не переводила такие трудные статьи. 12. Машина ломается уже третий раз за месяц. 13. Я звонил ему уже три раза сегодня. 14. Сегодня он уехал в Нью-Йорк. 15. Ты видел директора сегодня? – Нет. 16. Я выпила уже пятую чашку кофе за вечер.

Exercise 6. Choose the correct tense.

1. I (haven’t seen / didn’t see) much of him lately. 2. ‘Who is she?’ ‘I (have never seen / never saw) her before.’ 3. I (‘ve done / did) a lot of stupid things in my life. 4. She (has left / left) school last year. 5. When (have you got / did you get) married? 6. I’m sorry. I (haven’t finished / didn’t finish) yet. 7. I (‘ve often wondered / often wondered) what he does for a living. 8. He (has caught / caught) the plane at eight this morning. 9. I (‘ve read / read) a lot of her books when I was at school. 10. (Have you seen / Did you see) any good films recently?

Exercise 7. Complete the sentences with the Present Perfect or the Past Indefinite.

1. I (play) a lot of tennis this year. 2. She (have) six different jobs since she left school. 3. He (run) away from school three times when he was fourteen. 4. How many cups of coffee you (drink) today? 5. In those days, Andrew (come) to stay with us most weekends. 6. Shakespeare (write) poems as well as plays. 7. Since my brother lost his job, he (write) two books. 8. I’m not cooking today. I (cook) all the meals yesterday. In fact, I (cook) most of the meals this week. 9. Would you believe I (make) twenty-three phone calls today? 10. Our team are rubbish. They just (lose) eight games one after the other. 11. This scientist (write) a lot of books. He (write) his first one in 2001. 12. You ever (see) a documentary as good as that? 13. I never (travel) to the USA. What about you? When you (go) there? 14. He (live) in Manchester for eight years, and he wants to move to another place. 15. She (live) in Manchester for two years, and then in 2003 she (move) to London. 16. We (meet) Jane and Alan two years ago. How long you (know) them? 17. We (not know) that you (know) Mr. Black. How long you (know) him? – I (know) him for 2 years. 18. Ben (say) that he would phone me this morning, but it is now 8.20 & he (not phone) yet. 19. We just (receive) a letter saying that we (not pay) the bills for electricity & gas last month. 20. You (hear) the noise in the street at midnight? – No, nothing woke me up. 21. Betsy (have) bad luck all her life. But still she is always in a good mood. 22. Simon (be) ill & (spend) 10 days in hospital not long ago. 23. Jack has no work. He (be) unemployed ever since he left school. 24. The town (change) a lot since we (come) to live here.