- •The past tenses
- •1. Read part of the Alibi, a radio play. What tense is used here? Find the examples.
- •2. Circle the letter of the correct answer.
- •4. Complete the conversation with the simple past tense or the past progressive form of the verbs in parentheses.
- •6. Combine these pairs of sentences. Use the simple past tense or the past progressive form of the verb. Remember to use commas when necessary.
- •8. Look at this picture for ten seconds (your teacher will show it). Write down what was happening. See how many details you can remember. What were the people doing? What were they wearing?
- •11. Look through the text. What is it about? Fill in with an appropriate past form.
- •12. Scan the text for about 2 minutes. What is its main idea? Fill in with an appropriate past form.
- •13. Complete the sentences using any appropriate past forms.
- •14. Identify the tenses in bold, then match them to their use. Underline the time adverbs used with each tense. Make up three sentences using them.
- •16. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct past tense. Justify your answers.
- •17. Underline the correct words.
- •18. Look at the cartoons (pic. 4), then in teams try to explain what happened to each of the people using past tenses. Each correct sentence gets 1 point. The team with the most points is the winner.
- •19. Work in two teams. Make as many sentences as possible using the picture below (pic. 5).
- •The future tenses
- •1. Look at the picture (pic. 7). Describe the car. What's new about it? What's the same? Read an article about future transportation.
- •2. Read a radio interview with Professor Harry Vroom, a well-known researcher of the Future Watch Institute. There are fifteen verb forms that refer to the future. Find and underline them.
- •3. Look at the pictures (pic. 8). They show events from a day in Professor Vroom's life. Write predictions or guesses. Use the given words.
- •5. Radio listeners are calling in with questions for Professor Vroom. Complete the questions and answers. Use the words in parentheses.
- •7. Two people are traveling to the Car Show. Read their conversation and circle the most appropriate future forms.
- •8. Most Chinese restaurants in the United States give you fortune cookies at the end of your meal. Inside each cookie is a small piece of paper with a prediction about the future (pic. 9).
- •9. Complete your weekend schedule. If you have no plans, write free.
- •10. Work with the same partner as in Exercise 9. Look at this movie schedule. Then look at your schedules from Exercise 9. Decide which movie to see and when.
- •11. Read this article about setting goals. How is future expressed in the text?
- •12. Read the first sentence in each set. Then circle the letter of the sentences whose meaning is similar.
- •13. Combine these sentences.
- •15. Fill out this questionnaire.
- •16. Complete these three sentences. Then compare your answers with your groupmates' answers. How many different answers are there? Remember that all sentences refer to future time.
- •17. Work with a partner, interview him or her about some future plans. Ask questions such as:
- •20. It's 10 o'clock on Sunday night. The Miltons are at home making a statement to the police. Look at the pictures (pic. 10) and write their statement about the burglary. Use a variety of tenses.
- •24. Work in four groups. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English. Exchange your translations and correct mistakes if there are some.
- •Home exercises the past tenses
- •1. Underline the correct time expression. Identify the past forms.
- •2. Fill in with Past Simple or Continuous.
- •3. Fill in with Present Perfect or Past Simple.
- •8. Use the prompts to write sentences.
- •9. In this exercise you have to read the situation and then write a sentence. Use the verbs given in brackets. Read the example carefully first.
- •10. Are the underlined parts of these sentences right or wrong? Correct the ones which are wrong.
- •11. In this exercise you have to put the verb into the correct form, present perfect or past simple.
- •12. Complete these sentences using the verbs in brackets. You went back to your home town after many years and you found that many things were different.
- •13. Now you have to make sentences using the words in brackets.
- •14. Put the verb into the correct form, past perfect or past simple.
- •15. In this exercise you have to read a situation and then write a sentence.
- •16. In this exercise you have to read a situation and then write a sentence.
- •17. Put the verb into the correct form, past perfect continuous or past continuous.
- •18. Write about one of your older relatives. You can write about his/her:
- •The future tenses
- •2. Fill in the correct present or future forms.
- •3. Fill in: will or be going to.
- •4. Fill in the correct present or future forms.
- •6. Decide which form of the verb is correct (or more natural) in these sentences. Cross out the one which is wrong.
- •7. Answer these questions using the words in brackets.
- •8. In this exercise you have to put the verb into the correct form using will or going to.
- •10. This time you have to ask questions with Will you be -ing?
- •11. In this exercise you have to use will have done.
- •13. Underline the correct item.
- •14. All the sentences in this exercise are about the future. Put the verbs into the correct form.
- •15. This time you have to make one sentence from two sentences.
- •16. In this exercise you have to put in “when” or “if”.
- •17. Complete the following sentences using the words in brackets.
Home exercises the past tenses
1. Underline the correct time expression. Identify the past forms.
1. I still/yet/just hadn't done my homework when Mum came home.
2. Meg was lying in the sun before/while/as soon as the children were playing in the pool.
3. How long ago/How long/While did you pass your driving test?
4. He continued his journey before/after/ago he had changed the tyre.
5. I was walking down the street when/as soon as/while a car stopped next to me.
6. She had been singing for years since/for/before she finally became a star.
7. I went on an excursion to the Lake District last week/since/just.
8. He hadn't eaten turkey since/ever/for the previous Christmas.
9. Our team had scored three goals by the time/until/while we got to the match.
10. The professor didn't start speaking how long/until/yet everyone was quiet.
11. Do you know how long/when/while he had lived in Portugal before he moved to Turkey?
12. They had been sailing for/since/while a month before they reached a port.
13. She took off her coat just/as soon as/already she entered the house.
2. Fill in with Past Simple or Continuous.
Simon 1) ...was walking... (walk) home from work the other day when he 2) .................................... (notice) something shining on the pavement on the other side of the road. A car 3)................................. (come) down the street, so he waited until it had driven past, then he 4) ......................................... (cross) over. When he 5)..................................... (get) to the other side he saw that it was a shiny gold coin! He 6).......................... (look) around to make sure no one 7).............................. (look), then he 8) ........................... (bend) down to pick it up. Imagine his surprise when he 9).............................. (not/can) move it! He 10) ............................ (be) just about to give up when he 11) ........................ (hear) a strange sound behind him. Someone 12) ........................ (laugh) at him, but he couldn't see who it 13)................................. (be). Two little boys 14) ……………………….. (hide) behind a hedge, laughing at anyone who tried to pick up the coin they had stuck to the pavement with glue!
3. Fill in with Present Perfect or Past Simple.
1............................... (you/see) the Bruce Lee film on TV last night?
– No. But I........................................ (see) all of his films on video already this year.
2. I....................................... (live) in Germany for five years now. I.......................... (move) here in 1989.
– I............................................. (live) in Portugal for a time, but I live in Rome now.
3. My Uncle Tom ........................................... (meet) Winston Churchill.
– That's nothing! My mum........................................... (meet) Prince Charles.
4. Where's Jane?
– She ........................................... (go) to America. She ...................................... (leave) last week.
– Really? Why ………………........................ (she/go) there?
5. My father................................... (work) in that shop for twelve years. Then he ........................................ (get) a job in a bank.
– He .................................................... (work) at the bank for quite a few years now, hasn't he?
6. How long .......................................................... (you/learn) Italian?
– I................................ (start) learning the language when I................................................ (be) twelve.
4. Make up situations to justify the use of the Present Simple and Present Continuous in the following pairs of sentences. You may draw pictures instead of sentences.
1. You'd better take your coat. It's raining out there.
You'd better take your coat. It rains out there.
2. Who is sleeping in this room?
Who sleeps in this room?
3. He plays tennis.
He is playing tennis.
4. You're putting the umbrella in the wrong place.
You put the umbrella in the wrong place.
5. I don't eat fish.
I'm not eating fish.
5. Make up situations to justify the use of the Present Perfect and he Past Simple in the following pairs of sentences containing an indication of a period of time. You may draw pictures instead of sentences.
1. I haven't read the paper this morning.
I didn't read the paper this morning.
2. We haven't seen them for years.
We didn't see them for years.
3. He hasn't gone to bed for two days.
He didn't go to bed for two days.
4. He has been a teacher for ten years.
He was a teacher for ten years.
5. I've had a letter from him today.
I had a letter from him today.
6. Make up situations to justify the use of the Present Continuous and the Present Perfect Continuous in the following pairs of sentences. You may draw pictures instead of sentences.
1. He is saying funny things about you.
He has been saying funny things about you.
2. What are you doing?
What have you been doing?
3. She is accusing me of things.
She has been accusing me of things.
7. Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple or the present perfect.
Alex Morton is a talented writer who ………………… (lead) a very interesting life. He was born in 1945 in Manchester, and he was the youngest of six children. From the moment he could read, he was never without a book in his hands. He was an avid reader throughout his schooldays, and he soon ………………… (show) his talent for writing, too. In fact, his teachers ………………. (give) him extra assignments just to be able to read more of his work.
After he …………… (leave) school he went to Manchester University. By the time he got his BA, he had already published a number of short stories, and his first novel was almost finished. Over the next few years he …………….. (write) non-stop and each of his books was more successful than the last. Despite being so busy with his work, Alex …………….. (find) time for romance. He met Fiona Jones while he was at university and they were married in 1971. They have two children. He ……………….. (always/be) a devoted husband and father.
Alex Morton ……………… (write) over twenty books so far and his name ……………… (be) on the best seller list more times than he can remember. However, the pinnacle of his career was when he ……………….. (win) the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1995. Since then, Alex ……………….. (continue) to write and many of his books …………………. (be/made) into films.