LESSON 1. INTRODUCING ONESELF

Lesson 7. THE FIRST DAY AT WORK

Grammar: The Past Continuous Tense; Modal Verbs (can, may, must)

Unit 1

The Past Continuous Tense

Was/were + Participle I

The Past Continuous Tense употребляется для выражения длительного

действия, которое происходило в определенный момент в прошлом.

Этот момент может быть выражен:

1. Точным указанием времени:

I was watching TV at 5 o’clock yesterday.

2. Другим кратким действием:

I was reading when they came in.

3. Параллельным, одновременным действием:

While their mother was cooking dinner, the children were playing in the

garden.

Past Continuous характеризуется следующими словами и выражениями:

all day (night) long, the whole day (morning), all the time, at 6 o’clock

yesterday, from 7 till 8 o’clock… и др.:

She was reading the whole morning yesterday.

Past Simple и Past Continuous часто употребляются вместе. Past

Simple обозначает краткое действие, которое конкретизирует момент, когда

происходило длительное действие, выраженное Past Continuous.

Например:

I cut my finger while I was cooking dinner.

The phone rang when we were reading.

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I was readingYou were readingShe was readingHe was readingIt was readingWe were readingThey were reading

Was I reading?Were you reading?Was she reading?Was he reading?Was it reading?Were we reading?Were they reading? They were not (weren’t) reading

I was not (wasn’t) readingYou were not (weren’t) readingShe was not (wasn’t) readingHe was not (wasn’t) readingIt was not (wasn’t) readingWe were not (weren’t) reading

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS

Exercise 1. Open the brackets using Past Continuous.

1. When she entered the room, the children (to play). 2. I (to walk) with my

friend from 5 till 7 yesterday. 3. When we came, they (to have) dinner. 4. When my

friend arrived, I (to meet) him. 5. When I left the house, it (to snow). 6. The

company (to construct) the plant from June till January. 7. While my father (to

read) a book, my mother (to cook) dinner. 8. She (to type) when I phoned her.

9. He (to run) very fast when he fell down. 10. The children (to make) a lot of noise

while they (to play). 11. I (to wait) for my clients at 3 o’clock yesterday.

Exercise 2. Ask questions beginning with the words in brackets.

Pattern: Yesterday at 10 o’clock she was walking in the park. (Where?

When?)

Where was she walking at 10 o’clock yesterday?

When was she walking in the park?

1. It was raining hard all day yesterday. (How?)

2. They were discussing their problems when we came. (Who? What?)

3. She was looking through the mail when the phone rang. (Who? What?)

4. He was having talks at this time yesterday. (What? When?)

5. We were watching this program from 6 till 8 yesterday. (What? When?

Who?)

6. She was driving when he phoned her. (Who? What?)

7. He was having breakfast while I was drinking tea. (What? When?)

8. I was preparing for my exam the whole day yesterday. (What? When?)

Exercise 3. Open the brackets using Past Simple or Past Continuous.

1. We (to revise) prices the whole day yesterday. 2. We (to revise) prices last

week. 3. The company (to replace) faulty equipment last month. 4. The company

(to replace) faulty equipment all day long yesterday. 5. They (not to break) the

terms of the contract last year. 6. We (to look) into the matter when our partners

came. 7. He (to break) an appointment yesterday? 8. I (to make) a report the whole

evening yesterday. 9. Our company (to modify) the model the whole year. 10. They

still (to have) dinner when their manager (to phone). 11. While I (to speak) on the

phone, he (to study) catalogues. 12. When we (to enter) the room, they (to

receive) foreign businessmen.

Exercise 4. Раскройте скобки, поставив глагол в Present Perfect, Past

Simple, Past Continuous.

1. I’m pleased because they (to replace) faulty equipment. 2. When they (to

replace) it? 3. When you (to get) the insurance policy? 4. You ever (to try) to get

in touch with this company? 5. We (to develop) business relations with them now.

6.We already (to develop) business relations with 5 companies. 7. You (to make)

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LESSON 7. THE FIRST DAY AT WORK

LESSON 1. INTRODUCING ONESELF

calculations yet? – Yes, we (to make) them last week. 8. I (to make) calculations

from 9 till 12 yesterday. 9. They ever (to break) the terms of the contract? 10.This

company (to advertise) their goods for 2 weeks last month.

Exercise 5. Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1. Когда мы пришли, они смотрели телевизор. 2. Когда я ее встретил, она

покупала что то в магазине. 3. Когда мы вошли в зал, он делал доклад. 4. Когда

я позвонил им, они обсуждали новый проект. 5. Когда я его увидел, он назна

чал встречу по телефону. 6. Они рекламировали свой товар весь прошлый год.

7. В то время как мы привлекали покупателей, они продавали книги. 8. Пока

она говорила по телефону, я делал уроки. 9. Ты смотрел концерт вчера в 6 ча

сов вечера? 10. Он писал музыку вчера весь день? 11. Мы принимали клиен

тов с 10.00 до 14.00.

Unit 2

Working on the text

Read and translate the text. Find Past Continuous and explain its meaning.

The call came through in the late afternoon on Friday when Diana was

having tea. She did not really expect it already. It was the secretary of Mr.

Robinson who invited her to come to the office on Monday morning, at 9 o’clock.

It was 5 to 9.00 when Diana arrived at the company. She gave her name to

the receptionist and said she had an appointment with Mr. Robinson. While the

receptionist was calling his office, Diana was examining flowers in the window and

she did not notice the figure suddenly appear in the doorway.

“Good morning!” Diana spun from the window and gawked at the woman.

“You scared me”, she said and breathed deeply.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to”, she said smiling. I’m Silvia Brown, Mr.

Robinson’s secretary.”

“That’s all right, I’m Diana Stepleton”, they shook hands. Silvia Brown was a

lady of about 40 years old with large hazel eyes which were scrutinizing Diana. She

was wearing a dark blue skirt and a light blue blouse. Her chestnut hair was

combed back and tied in a short pony tail that gave her a professional look.

“Please follow me. I’ll accompany you to Mr. Robinson’s office.”

When they came, Mr. Robinson was speaking on the phone, giving

instructions to someone. He nodded to Diana and motioned her to sit down. While

he was speaking she had time to look around the office. There were four bookcases

along one wall. The other wall was occupied with two armchairs and a coffee table.

A massive mahogany desk stood near the window. There were no curtains. He hung

up the receiver and turned to her.

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