• The Past Continuous Tense. The Future Continuous Tense.

• Continuous Tenses: Passive Voice.

Exercise 12. Open brackets using the verbs in the Past Continuous Tense:

1. They … (to held) the meeting when executive manager came in this morning. 2. I … (to try) to explain my problem to the director, but she did not hear me. 3. He … (to talk) on the phone when I arrived. 4. A lot of people … (to wait) for the price discrimination last month. 5. I … (to work) in London when I met them. 6. I nearly had an accident this morning. A car … (to come) towards me, but I moved quickly out of the way. 7. We ... (to try) to decide whether we need to cut our budget. 8. What you … (to do) when we got your voice mail? 9. Which hotel … ( you / to stay) in when you went to the negotiations abroad? 10. She … (to pay) bills when I called her and asked to lend money.

Exercise 13. Compete the sentences by putting the verbs in brackets into either the Past Simple or Past Continuous. Sometimes the same tense is used twice; sometimes different tenses are used:

1. While I … (negotiate) the contract, my boss … (phone) me to say that he wanted completely different conditions. 2. The last time something like this … (happen), she … (call) a press conference immediately. 3. Sales manager ... (explain) her proposal when general manager … (interrupt) her. 4. We never got the chance to interview him. While we … (investigate) the matter, he … (refuse). 5. When we … (promote) our new selling strategy, he … (give) us useful advice. 6. I … (find) the missing file while I … (look) for some other documents. 7. When the head of the department … (arrive), we ... (tell) him about customers’ buying decisions.

Exercise 14. Using the words in parentheses, complete sentences below with the appropriate tenses (Future Indefinite and Future Continuous):

1. He (wait) ... for us when our train arrives. I am sure he (stand) … on the platform when we pull into the station. 2. We (pick) ... clerk up at work and go out to lunch. 3. When we come to the office, the secretary (tape) … the letter, some employees (make) ... coffee and (talk) ... over the phone, but PR manager (complain) … about his day at work. 4. I promise I (call) ... them when I get home from work. 5. If you want to contact me next week, I (stay) ... at the Hoffman Hotel. 6. I (call) ... you if there are any problems. Don't worry, they (be) ... fine. 7. I (send) ... you a fax with all our prices.

Exercise 15. Put the verbs in appropriate tenses: Present Indefinite, Future Indefinite, Present Continuous or Future Continuous:

1. Right now, I am writing a letter. Tomorrow at this time, I (wait) ... for the reply. 2. Tomorrow after work, I (go) ... to the exhibition. 3. I am going on a dream vacation to Tahiti. While you (do) ... paperwork and (talk) ... to customers on the phone, I (lie) … on a sunny, tropical beach. 4. Business partners (wait) ... when the owner of the company (arrive) ... to his office. As soon as the president opens the door, all (stand) … up and (say) ..., "Good morning!" 5. While you (study) ... at home, the rest of the students (be) ... at the classes. 6. When I (work) ... at the conference hall, colleagues (do) ... nothing, John (prepare) ... his report, Sue and Frank (discuss) … something controversial, and Mary (complain) … about something unimportant. They are always doing the same things. They are so predictable. 7. My colleagues (stay) … at the hotel, while I (check up) … all shipping documents in the office.

Exercise 16. Rewrite the sentences using Passive Voice:

1. Business firms are spending money for the things they wanted. 2. Enterprises were providing effective means of production to fight inflation. 3. This company will be building new houses for the citizens. 4. When he worked there, the president was managing the company extremely well. 5. My colleague is planning the redecoration of the office. 6. They were stabilizing the economy during the last two years. 7. Government was applying financial policy successfully at that time. 8. The committee will be announcing the winners of the competition at the moment.

Exercise 17. Change the following sentences into Active Voice:

1. The equipment was being repaired by our technical staff in the morning. 2. The advertising in the newspaper is being published at the moment. 3. I am sure, they are being asked by the police about the accident. 4. New programmes were being financed by the federal government during last several years. 5. The contract was being signed when I came in. 6. The amount of foreign competitors is being limited by us during a year. 7. The matter is being discussed at the conference now. 8. The delegates were being elected to the conference by our staff when the director arrived.

Exercise 18. Translate into English:

1. Коли ми проводили дослідження ринку, то вивчили взаємозв’язок між ціною, попитом і пропозицією. 2. Вони обговорювали конкуренцію на ринку, оскільки купували товари за нижчими цінами. 3. Дуже важливе питання обговорюється на зборах у офісі зараз. 4. Наш фінансовий директор не буде робити доповідь в цей час завтра. 5. Ми зустрілися з багатьма труднощами, коли втілювали в життя нашу торговельну стратегію. 6. Багато нових приладів буде вироблятись нашою компанією з вересня по листопад наступного року. 7. Які нові товари буде виготовляти ваша компанія наступного року? 8. Я все передбачив, коли ми вивчали бажання та потреби споживачів. 9. Секретар буде відправляти вам факси з моїми інструкціями та побажаннями щоп’ятниці. 10. Багато людей чекали на відкриття сезонної торгової ярмарки.