Review of Tenses potx

Review of Tenses
Exercise 1.
I was walking along the deserted main street of a small seaside town in the north of England
looking for somewhere ( 1 – make )_________ a phone call. My car ( 2 – break )_________
down outside the town and I wanted to contact the AA. The street ( 3 – run )________ parallei
to the sea and ( 4 – join )__________ to it by a number of narrow side street. Low grey clouds (
5 – drift )__________ across the sky and there ( 6 – be )______ a cold damp wind blowing off
the sea which nearly threw me off my feet when I ( 7 – cross )_________ one of the side streets.
It ( 8 – rain )________ for a long time.
Exercise 2.
I woke up when I ( 1 – hear )________ a noise downstairs. I ( 2 – get )________ out of bed
quietly because my wife ( 3 – still sleep )________ and ( 4 – go )_______ to the top of the
stairs. It was dark, but I could see two men downstairs in the living room. They ( 5 – try
)_______ to open the safe. When I ( 6 – switch )______ on the light, the two men ( 7 – run
)_______ into the kitchen and ( 8 – escape )_______ out of the back door. Then, before I ( 9 –
have )_______ a chance to do anything I ( 10 – hear )_______ a police car pull up outside the
house. A neighbour of mine ( 11 – see )_______ the men ( 12 – break )________ into my
house and ( 13 – phone ) the police.
Exercise 3.
John ( 1 – come )_________ from England. He ( 2 – come ) ________ to Paris six months
ago ( 3 – learn )______ French. He ( 4 – start )________ ( 5 – learn) ________ French at
school in England when he was eleven so he ( 6 – learn )_______ it for nearly 10 years. He ( 7
– just take )_________ an exam . If he passes, he ( 8 – move )_______ into the next class. He (
9 – be )_________ excited today because his parents ( 10 – come )___________ tomorrow to
stay with him for a few days.
Exercise 4.
Shortly after the world, my brother and I ( 1 – invite )_______ ( 2 – spend )_________ a
few days’ holiday with an uncle who ( 3 – just return )________ from abroad. He ( 4 – rent
)_________ a cottage in the country, although he rarely ( 5 – spend )________ much time there.
We ( 6 – understand )_________ the reason for this after our arrival. The cottage ( 7 – have
) _________ no comfortable furniture in it, many of the windows ( 8 – break )_____ and the

roof ( 9 – leak )________ , ( 10 – make )_________ the whole house damp.
Exercise 5.
Mary ( 1 – have )________ to go to New York last week, but she almost ( 2 – miss
)_______ the plane. She ( 3 – stand )_________ in the queue at the check – in desk when she
suddenly ( 4 – realize )_________ that she ( 5 – leave )_________ her passport at home.
Fortunately,she ( 6 – not live )________ very far from the airport so she ( 7 – have )________
time to go back home to get the passport. She ( 8 – get )__________ back to the airport just in
time for her flight.
Exercise 6.
One of the first novels in history of literature ( 1 – be )________ written in England in 1719.
It ( 2 – be )_________ Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. He ( 3 – bear )______ in London in
a rich family. When Daniel ( 4 – be )________ a school boy, he ( 5 – begin )________ to write
stories. After ( 6 – leave )_________ school, he ( 7 – work )_______ in his father’s shop and (
8 – write )________ articles for newspapers. Defoe ( 9 – visit )________ many countries and (
10 – meet )__________ many people. That helped him much in his writings.
Exercise 7 .
A friend of mine, Judith Nelson ( 1 – presently work )_________ in the international sales
division at an electronics firm. She ( 2 – just return )________ from a trip to Japan. She ( 3 –
be )________ asked to go there because she can speak Japanese. For four years, she ( 4 – never
have )_________ the opportunity to use her Japan until she ( 5 – go )_______ to Tokyo last
month. While she ( 6 – be )_________ there, she ( 7 – speak )_________ Japanese everyday
and ( 8 – enjoy )___________ very much of it.
Exercise 8 .
My most embarrasing experience happened when I had just left university. I ( 1 – just start
)_________ teaching in a Liverpool secondary school. One morning, my alarm clock ( 2 – not
ring ) __________ , I ( 3 – forget )_________ to wind it up. I woke up at half past eight and
school ( 4 – begin )________ at 9. I quickly washed, shaved, dressed, jumped into my car and (
5 – drive )_________ to school. When I arrived, the students already ( 6 – be )________ in
class. I didn’t go to the staff – room but ( 7 – go )________ straight into the class. After two or
three minutes the students ( 8 – begin )________ laughing and I couldn’t know why. Suddenly,

I ( 9 – look )________ down and understood I ( 10 – put )_________ on one black shoe and
one brown shoe.
Exercise 9.
Dear Sir
I ( 1 – write )__________ to you three weeks ago, ( 2 – ask )_______ about conditions of
entry into your college. You ( 3 – reply ) _______ ( 4 – enclose )________ an enrolment form,
which I ( 5 – fill up )________ and ( 6 – return )________ without delay. Since then, however,
I ( 7 – hear )________ nothing and I ( 8 – begin )_______ to wonder if my application ( 9 –
go ) ________astray.
You please ( 10 – check )________ that you ( 11 – receive )_______ it and if you haven’t,
please send me another enrolment form. If, on the other hand, you ( 12 – receive )_______ my
application but ( 13 – not decide )_______ whether to accept me as a student or not. I ( 14 – be
)________ very grateful if you ( 15 – tell )________ me when I may expect to hear your
decision.
Finally, if my application already ( 16 – be )________ refused, I ( 17 – like )________ to be
informed as soon as possible because if I do not get into your college, I ( 18 – have )_________
to apply to another and the sooner I ( 19 –do )_______ this, the better chance I ( 20 – have )
_________ of being accepted.
Exercise 10 .
Dear Mr Jones.
My family and I ( 1 – suffer )________ a good deal lately from the noise made by your
guests when they ( 2 – leave )________ your house on Saturday nights.
They ( 3 – stand )________ in the street, ( 4 – laugh )________ loudly and ( 5 – call
)______ goodbye to each other. Then they ( 6 – get )________ into their cas, ( 7 – bang
)________ the doors loudly, and finally they ( 8 – reverse )_______ their cars on to the road.
This ( 9 – sound )_______ a fairly simple manoeuvre, but there is always at least one of your
guests who ( 10 – find )________ it almost beyond him – whether because he ( 11 – have
)________ too much to drink or still ( 12 – learn )_______ to drive, I ( 13 - not know
)________- but I ( 14 – know )_________ that it ( 15 – take )________ him ages to get out
and all the time we hear his engine ( 16 – roar )________ and his friends ( 17 – shout

)_________ advice.
By the time all your guests ( 18 – go )_________ and the road is quiet again, my family all
be wakened up, and the children often ( 19 – find )_______ it very hard to sleep again.
I ( 20 –be )_________ very grateful if you ( 21 – ask )_________ your guests ( 22 – leave
)________ more quietly and perhaps you ( 23 – be ) ________ able ( 24 – persuade
)__________ any learner drivers ( 25 – come )_________ by taxi.