II. Grammar Revision

Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous (Revision).

Training exercises:

Ex.1. Use the proper present form.

1. Her children (to be) in the yard. They (to play) football now. They (to play) it since ten o’clock.

2. She (to speak) English well. She (to study) it for five years. Listen! She (to speak) English to her teacher.

3. Why she (to look) tired? – She (to work) all night.

4. Since when they (to wait) for us? – They (to wait) for half an hour. We (to be) late.

5. What they (to do) now? – They (to discuss) a very important problem. They (to discuss) it for two hours; but they (not to reach) the agreement yet.

6. I never (to suppose) that he can cook. He (to be) in the kitchen now. He (to cook) for an hour and he already (to prepare) some tasty dishes.

7. The weather (to be) fine today. There (to be) no clouds in the sky, the warm wind (to blow). The sun (shine) since early morning.

8. Why you (not to like) this woman? – I (to hate) since I met her.

9. I can say nothing about this ballet as I (not to see) it.

Ex.2. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct present forms.

James Dyson, millionaire inventor and successful British businessman, (to surprise) his country by deciding to move production to the Far East.

The 54-year-old design engineer (to be) well-known for his invention of a powerful vacuum cleaner that (to operate) without a bag. Dyson spent 15 years trying to persuade the banks to support his ideas and enable him to set up production of the new vacuum cleaners. He (to run) a business in a small town in the west of England for 6 years and his factory (to produce) 8.000 vacuum cleaner a day. Moving the main production facility to Malaysia will result in a loss of 800 jobs. Both the UK government and the unions (to express) their horror at the decision.

The company, which employs 1,800 people in total, (to say) it (to decide) to move production because of the success of a plant it established in Malaysia two years ago. Labour costs at the Malaysia plant (to rise) now only to £1.50 an hour: in the UK they (to rise) to £4.10 an hour. But the quality of the Malaysia cleaners (to be) as high as the British-made ones.

A number of other companies also (to move) production to lower cost countries in recent months. Many people (to fear) for the future of British manufacturing if this trend continues.

Dyson (to believe) the move will enable the company to cut production costs by 30 percent. He (to plan) to put savings into research and development in a drive to create new technology productions for the future. The R&D department (to remain) in Britain.

At present the company having achieved the sales of £220 million in 2000 (to spend) around 10 percent of turnover on new product development. Dyson (to describe) R&D as the ‘heart and soul’ of the business. He (to say) the decision to cut back the UK workforce (to be) a sad and difficult one.

Ex.3. Open the brackets using the proper present form.

1.

• Jane, what Bob (to do) there?

• He (to lose) his books and he (to look for) them all the afternoon.

• He needn’t look for them. They are here; they (to lie) here all the while.

2.

• I say, what your brother (to do)?

• He is a writer. He (to write) a novel for the last two years, but he (not to finish) it yet. He (not to collect) the necessary material for the second part, and now he (to work) in the library.

3.

• – Hello, Ann. Why don’t you come over to see Helen? She (to fall) ill and (to be) in bed.

• Oh, what a pity. What (to be) wrong with her?

• The doctor (to say), she (to have) the grippe.

4.

• – Where is Ann? I (to look for) her since morning.

• She (to take) her exam in English. You know she (to fail) it.

• Oh, I’m sorry. She (not to come) to the party then tonight, is she?

• I’m afraid, not. The teacher (to examine) her far an hour already and she (to come out) yet.

5.

• – Where (to be) John? I (not to see) him for ages.

• I (not to know). Maybe, he (to have a rest) in the country now.

Ex.4. Develop the given clauses into a complex or compound sentence.

Model:

... it is snowing hard…

The temperature has been gradually falling and now it is snowing hard.

or:

It is snowing hard, so the children have taken out their sleds.

or:

The weather has suddenly changed and it is snowing hard, though it seldom ever snows in these parts.

1. … the sun has risen…

2. … dark clouds are gathering…

3. … the river has frozen…

4. … my friend has been skating…

5. … something very interesting is taking place…

6. … the trees have burst into blossom…

Ex.5. Translate the following situations into English paying attention to the use of the present forms. The verbs in brackets will help you to choose the correct form of the predicate.

Видишь того человека на углу на перекрестке? (to see). Это частный детектив. Следит за 24-ым домом (to watch).

• Откуда знаешь, что он следит за этим домом?

• А потому что, когда кто-нибудь выходит (to come out) из дома или заходит в дом (to go into), он что-то записывает в блокнот (to make notes).

• Где мой ноутбук, Ищу везде (to look for) и не могу найти.

• Том взял его (to take). У него – важные переговоры вечером (to have). Он демонстрирует слайды.

3. Телефонный разговор

• Слушай! Просматривают старый альбом с фотографиями (to look through). Здесь так много людей, имена которых я даже не помню (to remember). Я совершенно их забыл (to forget). Интересно, кто они и что с ними произошло за эти годы? (to happen)