Business English Grammar = Грамматика английского языка. Часть 1. Практикум

PRESENT PERFECT AND PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Exercise 46. Read these sentences from the article and the interview, and answer the questions below. Choose as many variants as possible.

1. Which sentences refer to a period of time completely in the past?

a)Young entrepreneurs took the opportunity to start successful businesses.

b)Imports became too expensive for the average Russian.

c)Consumer demand has been growing steadily.

d)We’ve opened five stores so far.

e)Why do you think it’s been successful?

2.Which sentences refer to a period of time from the past to the present? a) Young entrepreneurs took the opportunity to start successful businesses. b) Imports became too expensive for the average Russian.

c) Consumer demand has been growing steadily. d) We’ve opened five stores so far.

e) Why do you think it’s been successful?

3.What are the full forms of ‘We’ve opened’ and ‘it’s been’?

a)‘We have opened’ and ‘it is been’

b)‘We have opened’ and ‘it has been’

4. Match the verbs in the sentences with the tenses:

Exercise 47. Read the sentences and answer the questions. Choose as many variants as possible.

1. Which sentences focus on the result or completion of the action?

a) International companies have also been investing in Russia since the fall of communism.

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b)Companies like McDonald’s, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, and IKEA, have opened businesses such as shops, showrooms, and factories.

c)How long have you been living in Russia?

d)I’ve been living here since 1998.

e)How many stores have you established?

f)We’ve opened five stores so far, and we’ve also built several large shopping malls in the last few years.

g)Bureaucratic problems have been getting fewer recently.

h)The government has reduced the number of licences that are needed for a new company to set up.

2. Which sentences focus on the activity itself?

a)International companies have also been investing in Russia since the fall of communism.

b)Companies like McDonald’s, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, and IKEA, have opened businesses such as shops, showrooms, and factories.

c)How long have you been living in Russia?

d)I’ve been living here since 1998.

e)How many stores have you established?

f)We’ve opened five stores so far, and we’ve also built several large shopping malls in the last few years.

g)Bureaucratic problems have been getting fewer recently.

h)The government has reduced the number of licences that are needed for a new company to set up.

3. Match the verbs in the sentences with the tenses:

a)International companies have also been investing in Russia since the fall of communism.

b)Companies like McDonald’s, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, and IKEA, have opened businesses such as shops, showrooms, and factories.

c)How long have you been living in Russia?

d)I’ve been living here since 1998.

e)How many stores have you established?

f)We’ve opened five stores so far, and we’ve also built several large shopping malls in the last few years.

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g)Bureaucratic problems have been getting fewer recently.

h)The government has reduced the number of licences that are needed for a new company to set up.

the fall of communism

1998

we opened the first store

several years

a number of years

the mid-1990s

the last few years

Exercise 49. Complete these sentences with either the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous of the verb in brackets.

Example: 1. How long have you been working (work) in China?

2.I _____ (work) here for two years.

3.Our company _____ (invest) in China for several years.

4.We _____ (open) ten shops in Beijing and Shanghai, but we _____ (not move) into southern China.

5.You look tired. What have you _____ (do)?

6.I _____ (write) a report all day.

7.Have you _____ (finish) the report?

8.Not yet. I _____ (write) about two-thirds.

9.He _____ (study) accounts management for six months.

10.He _____ (not learn) how to do spreadsheets.

11.Has the computer _____ (crash) again?

12.It _____ (do) that all week.

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Exercise 50. Complete the following article. Use the most appropriate tense of the verb in brackets: Past Simple, Present Perfect Simple, or Present Perfect Continuous.

1.In the 1990s, as many as one million young Russians _____ (go) abroad to look for better opportunities.

2.But in the new millennium, people like Pavel Doshlov and Tatyana Leonova

_____ (decide) to return to the ‘new’ Russia.

3.I _____ (travel) abroad in 1996 to study.

4.I _____ (see) a lot of the world.

5.I _____ (live) in China, England, and Hungary.

6.I _____ (work) in Budapest for the last year.

7.But since I _____ (arrive) here a month ago, ...

8. ... I _____ (make) a decision to move back to Russia.

9.So much _____ (change) since I lived here before.

10.‘I _____ (come back) two years ago and ...

11. ... I _____ (not regret) it.

12.I _____ (work) for Nestle for two years.

13.I _____ (already have) three promotions, ...

14. ... and recently I _____ (move) into an apartment in the centre of Moscow. 15. Last year, I _____ (win) an award as Young businesswoman of the year!’

Check your answers to exercises 46–50 here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLdNNaGg0xXBI9zIE- NNFA9_opg52w4iL9-8uGh64rtweCbA/viewform?authuser=0

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PAST SIMPLE

Exercise 51. Look at the examples and answer the questions. Choose one variant.

1.How is the regular past simple formed? a) Add -ed to the infinitive.

b) Put did before the subject and the infinitive. c) Put didn’t before the infinitive.

2.How is a question about the past formed? a) Add -ed to the infinitive.

b) Put did before the subject and the infinitive. c) Put didn’t before the infinitive.

3.How is the past negative formed?

a)Add -ed to the infinitive.

b)Put did before the subject and the infinitive.

c)Put didn’t before the infinitive.

Exercise 52. Choose the correct word in italics.

The past simple describes an event that is finished / still happening.

Exercise 53. We often use the past simple with a time expression. Choose the correct prepositions for the time expressions below.

in on at from ... to ...

1998

2003–4

April 1st

Monday

9 am

6 March

Exercise 54. Read the notes about a company that makes crisps. Write complete sentences using the past simple and appropriate time expressions.

Example: 1996 — David Willis founded (founds) Chiltern Snacks.

1996–2001 — He _____ (distributes) crisps to local retailers by van.

August 1st 2001 — A customer _____ (cancels) his order because ...

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... Willis _____ (doesn’t sell) 50 gram packs.

... Willis _____ (thinks) about starting up his own brand of crisps.

December 2002 — Willis _____ (starts) production of the first Salty Dog crisps using 50 gram packs.

The first year — Sales _____ (grow) fast.

November 2003 — The first international order _____ (arrives). February 14th 2004 — Willis _____ (exports) the first packs to Germany. March 2004 — He _____ (receives) enquiries from the US and China.

Exercise 56. Listen again. Which of the phrases below do you hear?

√ X

Then ... / So then ...

For the next three or four years ...

Two years later ...

After about a year ... / after a while ...

After + -ing ... (e.g. After graduating ...)

So what did I do?

And now ...

To begin with ...

Exercise 57. Ask questions to complete the story of Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon.com.

Example: ??? — Graduated from Princeton. When did he graduate from Princeton?

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???— Moved to Seattle.

???— Began writing software for new business.

???— Got his first job with a new technology company.

???— Amazon opened for business.

Exercise 58. Complete the text using the correct past simple form of the verbs in brackets.

Example: 1. Tim Berners-Lee was (be) born in London, England, on June 8th

1955.

2. He _____ (study) physics at Oxford University, ...

3. ... where he _____ (build) his first computer.

4. He _____ (have) several jobs ...

5. ... before he _____ (become) an independent consultant.

6. During this time he _____ (spend) six months in Geneva, Switzerland, ...

7. ... where he _____ (write) his first program for storing information.

8. He _____ (call) the program ‘Enquire’, ...

9. ... but he _____ (not publish) it.

10. In 1990, he _____ (start) work on the World Wide Web, ...

11. ... which _____ (make) its first appearance on the Internet in 1991.

12. In 1994, Tim _____ (create) the World Wide Web Consortium at

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Exercise 59. Complete questions 1–8.

Example: 1. What time did they arrive? — They arrived at nine o’clock.

2.Where _____? — We had lunch in the staff canteen.

3.Who _____ at the conference? — I saw our colleagues from the Buenos Aires office.

4.Why _____ the meeting? — Raul left the meeting because he had an urgent phone call.

5.Which hotel _____ at? — They stayed at the Hilton.

6.When _____ the company? — She joined the company last year.

7.How long _____ with the visitors? — I spent all day with them.

8.How many emails _____? — We sent about a hundred.

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Exercise 60. Choose the correct verb forms in italics to complete sentences 1–6.

1.I usually arrive / arrived at 8 a.m., but yesterday my train is / was late.

2.He works / worked at home most of the time but he comes / came to the office last week.

3.She isn’t / wasn’t there yesterday evening. Maybe she doesn’t know / didn’t know there was a meeting.

4.In general, they don’t go / didn’t go on holiday, but last summer they decide / decided to go to Costa Rica.

5.I don’t like / didn’t like his presentation yesterday. He usually speaks / spoke much better.

6.She doesn’t come / didn’t come here very often, so I am / was surprised to see her last week.

Check your answers to exercises 51–60 here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_dwNvATht9DYqt_0cmmIpjgG-bx- OoKVPY39uO4mgMR7slQ/viewform?authuser=0

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PAST CONTINUOUS

Exercise 61. Use the words in the box to give explanations for the following events. The first has been done for you.

Example: We scrapped the project because funds were running out.

1.We scrapped the project because _____.

2.They evacuated the building because _____.

3.He sold his shares quickly because _____.

4.He didn’t wish to interrupt because _____.

5.I cut down on drinking because _____.

6.We were forced to withdraw the model because _____.

a)customers were complaining

b)funds were running out

c)my work was suffering

d)the fire bell was ringing

e)the president was speaking

f)their value was plummeting

Exercise 62. Steve Jobs. Read the following passage and choose where to insert these sentences.

Entrepreneurs can go through long periods of bad luck and fall on hard times. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is one of these people. Since enjoying tremendous success in the 1980s he spent 11 years of humiliating failure.

After he was sacked by Apple, he lost millions of dollars by selling his shares at the wrong time. 1_____ Next had spent $180 million of his shareholders’ money and had nothing to show for it. 2_____.

For five years, the criticism from the business press was universal and deafening. 3_____. Then a writer called Randall Stross published a book called Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing which accused him, among other things, of fostering false optimism on successes that didn’t exist and having no financial know-how. It was a humiliating attack. 4_____ By 1995 he had lost $200m out of a fortune of $300 m.

Now all that is behind him. Pixar now makes animated movies in partnership with Disney. Toy Story was the third-highest earning animation of all time and the launch of the iMac was a huge success. We haven’t heard the last of Mr Jobs.

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