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Mixed tenses - review

1. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:


Tom Wilson 1)______________________ (be) an explorer. He 2)______________________ (be) to nearly
every country in the world, but the most exciting time he 3)______________________ (ever/have) was
when he 4)______________________ (go) to the Congo jungle. A magazine 5)______________________
(ask) him to retrace the route of a famous explorer who 6)______________________ (disappear) in
the1920's. As he 7)______________________ (follow) a small river he got separated from his guides. He
8)______________________ (go on) alone, hoping he 9)______________________ (find) them, but instead
he 10)______________________ (encounter) a group of natives. He 11)______________________ (stay)
with them for several days and 12)______________________ (find out) that a very old woman13)
______________________ (actually/meet) the famous explorer. She 14)______________________ (know)
how he 15)______________________ (die). Tom 16)______________________ (become) very friendly
with the natives and now he 17)______________________ (plan) to go back and see them again. He is sure
they 18)______________________ (welcome) him back.
2. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
When Francis Lee was a boy he 1)______________________ (want) to be an astronaut.
He2)______________________ (watch) TV one day in 1969 when he 3)______________________ (see)
Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Since then he 4)______________________ (always/dream) of doing the
same. Every night when there is a full moon, he 5)______________________ (stare) up at it for hours and
6)______________________ (imagine) himself walking around on it. At the moment, however, he
7)______________________ (work) as a night-watchman at a meat factory. He
8)______________________ (do) the same job since he left school fifteen years ago, but he still hopes that
one day his dream 9)______________________ (come) true. He 10)______________________ (hear) that
in the 21st century they 11)______________________ (sell) tickets to fly to the moon. For this reason he 12)
______________________ (save) half of his wages every month for the past two years.
3. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Sue Thomas is a fashion designer. She 1)______________________ (make) clothes ever since she
2)______________________ (be) a young girl. She 3)______________________ (get) her first job in a
clothes factory when she was sixteen. She 4) ______________________ (sew) buttons onto a shirt one day
when she 5)______________________ (have) a brilliant idea for a design. After she
6)______________________ (speak) to her bank manager, she got a loan and she
7)______________________ (open) her own little workshop. Now she 8)______________________
(make) lots of money. Next year she 9)______________________ (open) a shop which will sell all her own
designs. She 10)______________________ (sell) clothes to a lot of famous people, including film stars and
singers, and she 11)______________________ (think) she will be very rich soon.
4. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense :
Kevin Adams 1)______________________ (love) trains. He first 2)______________________ (see) one
when he was four years old and he 3)______________________ (think) it was great. He
4)______________________ (go) to a different railway station every week and
5)______________________ (write down) the engine number of every train he sees. He
6)______________________ (do) this since he was eight. By the time he was fifteen he
7)______________________ (collect) over 10.000 different engine numbers in various counties. Once,
while he 8)______________________ (stand) in a station in Cheshire he saw something very unusual. He
9)______________________ (wait) for over an hour for a train to go by when suddenly he
10)______________________ (see) a very old steam train coming down the track. It
11)______________________ (not/stop) at the station and, as it was passing, Kevin noticed that all the
passengers 12)______________________ (wear) old-fashioned clothes. When he told the station guard
about this, the poor man turned pale. He said that no steam train 13)______________________ (pass)

through that station for years, and that the last one 14)______________________ (crash), killing everyone
on board.
5. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense :
Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, scientists, politicians and theologians
1)______________________ (discuss) the question of whether or not the cloning of human beings
2)______________________ (should/allow). If cloning does become a reality one day, it
3)______________________ (raise) many questions. Many scientists want cloning
4)______________________ (be) legalised. They believe that if it 5)______________________ (be) legal
to clone human beings, it 6)______________________ (be) possible to create a superior race. Many
childless couples also wish the government 7)______________________ (allow) cloning. If this
8)______________________ (be) the only way for you to have a child, you might agree with them too.
6. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Sammy Milton 1)______________________ (not/be) very clever. He 2) ______________________ (walk)
along the beach one day when he 3)______________________ (trip) over something and 4)
______________________ (fall) on the sand. He 5)______________________ (not/look) where he was
going. What 6)______________________ (be) this? he said, picking up the object he
7)______________________ (trip) over. I 8)______________________ (never/see) anything like it
before. It was, in fact, a very old oil lamp, and as he 9) ______________________ (rub) it, a genie
suddenly 10) ______________________ (fly) out of it. You 11)______________________ (just/release)
me from the lamp!, said the genie. Now you may have three wishes. Great said Sammy who 12)
______________________ (feel) very thirsty. I 13)______________________ (want) a bottle of lemonade
that never 14)______________________ (run out). No problem, said the genie, and
15)______________________ (produce) one instantly. Sammy picked up the bottle and
16)______________________ (drink) all the lemonade in one go. Magically, the bottle
17)______________________ (fill) itself up again. Sammy drank all that, and exactly the same thing
18)______________________ (happen) again. Thats amazing! he said. Thanks very much! You still
19)______________________ (have) two more wishes young man. Thats easy, said Sammy. I
20)______________________ (have) two more of these bottles of lemonade!.
7. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
One day a little Indian boy 1)_____________________ (sit) outside his wigwam. He
2)____________________ (wonder) how the Indians 3) ______________________ (choose) their
childrens names. He 4)____________________ (decide) to go and ask the Indian Chief. Well,
5)______________________ (explain) the Chief, we 6)______________________ (love) nature and when
a new baby 7)______________________ (be) born, we 8)______________________ (look) around and we
9)_____________________ (choose) a name from what we 10)______________________ (see), like
Flowing Waterfall, Bright Star, Running Bull and so on. 11)_____________________ (you/understand)?
Yes, chief, the little Indian boy said. Why 12)___________________ (you/be) so interested in this, Two
Dogs Fighting?, the Chief asked.
8. Fill in the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
One afternoon, while I 1)______________________ (walk) in town, I 2)______________________ (see) a
poster for a liquor promotion at a club I 3)______________________ (used to, go) to. They 4)
______________________ (advertise) a vodka disco. Later that week, my friend and I 5)
______________________ (decide) to go to this club to find out what 6)______________________ (go on).
It was a drink-as-much-vodka-as-you-can evening, with music and prizes for the best dancers. After we
7)______________________ (enter) the club, a man 8)______________________ (give) each of us a Tshirt and a badge in the shape of a vodka bottle. To my surprise, all the drinks 9) ______________________
(be) free. We 10) _____________________ (not drink) very much at all one vodka each- but other young
people 11)______________________ (drink) heavily all evening. Some of the dancers
12)______________________ (look) quite drunk. We all know that companies
13)______________________ (try) to sell us their products and they 14)______________________ (use)
almost any means possible to encourage us to spend our money. 15)______________________ (this, mean)

they can convince us to buy anything? Even things that are bad for us? Think about it! The last time you 16)
______________________ (buy) an alcoholic drink, 17)______________________ (it, be) because you
really wanted it, or because an ad persuaded you to do so?
9. Fill in the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
I 1.______________________ (be) a fan of soap operas for years. I 2.______________________ (always
watch) my favourite show three times a week. In fact, until about a week ago, I
3.______________________ (never / miss) a single episode. Last Saturday, while I
4.______________________ (sit) in front of the TV, the electricity suddenly 5.______________________
(go off). After waiting for about an hour, I finally phoned the telephone company. What
6.______________________ (happen)? I asked them. When 7.______________________ (we / have)
electricity again? The man I spoke to said it 8. ______________________ (take) a while to fix the problem.
So I 9.______________________ (not watch) my favourite soap opera that day. Strangely enough, I
10.______________________ (not watch) it since. Suddenly, there are so many other things to do!
10. Complete the passage with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
Goldilocks is probably the most famous and most charming squatter of all times. While the Bear family
______________________ (look) for breakfast, Goldilocks ______________________ (break into) their
house and ______________________ (make) herself at home. The first thing she
______________________ (see) when she ______________________ (enter) the house was food on the
table. This made her happy because she ______________________ (walk) in the woods for several hours
and was very hungry. Goldilocks immediately ______________________ (sit down) at the table to eat.
When she ______________________ (finish) the meal, she ______________________ (feel) very tired and
______________________ (decide) to look for a comfortable place to rest. By the time the bears
______________________ (return) from their hunt, Goldilocks ______________________ (already leave).
To this day they do not know who the squatter was.
11. Fill in the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

John 1______________________ (always/travel) a lot. In fact, he 2______________________ (be) only


two years old when he first 3______________________ (fly) to the US. His mother
4______________________ (be) Italian and his father 5______________________ (be) American. John
6______________________ (be) born in France, but his parents 7______________________ (meet) in
Cologne, Germany after they 8______________________ (live) there for five years. They
9______________________ (meet) one day while John's father 10__________ (read) a book in the library
and his mother 11______________________ (sit down) beside him. Anyway, John
12______________________ (travel) a lot because his parents also 13______________________ (travel) a
lot.
As a matter of fact, John 14 ______________________ (visit) his parents in France at the moment. He 15
______________________ (live) in New York now, but 16 ______________________ (visit) his parents for
the past few weeks. He really 17______________________ (enjoy) living in New York, but he also 18
______________________ (love) coming to visit his parents at least once a year.
This year he 19 ______________________ (fly) over 50,000 miles for his job. He 20
______________________ (work) for Jackson & Co. for almost two years now. He's pretty sure that he 21
______________________ (work) for them next year as well. His job 22 ______________________
(require) a lot of travel. In fact, by the end of this year, he 23______________________ (travel) over
120,000 miles! His next journey 24 ______________________ (be) to Australia. He really
25______________________ (not like) going to Australia because it is so far. This time he
26______________________ (fly) from Paris after a meeting with the company's French partner. He
27______________________ (sit) for over 18 hours by the time he 28______________________ (arrive)!

John 29______________________ (talk) with his parents earlier this evening when his girlfriend from New
York 30______________________ (telephone) to let him know that Jackson & Co.
31______________________ (decide) to merge with a company in Australia. The two companies
32______________________ (negotiate) for the past month, so it really 33______________________ (not
be) much of a surprise. Of course, this 34______________________ (mean) that John
35______________________ (have to catch) the next plane back to New York. He
36______________________ (meet) with his boss at this time tomorrow.

KEY
1. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Tom Wilson 1) .... is .... (be) an explorer. He 2) has been...(be) to nearly every countryin the world, but the most
exciting time he 3) has ever had. (ever/have) was when he4) went (go) to the Congo jungle. A magazine 5)
(had) asked (ask) him toretrace the route of a famous explorer who 6) had disappeared. (disappear) in
the1920's. As he 7) was following.(follow) a small river he got separated from his guides.He 8) went on.
(go on) alone, hoping he 9) would find.. (find) them, but insteadhe 10) encountered (encounter) a group of
natives. He 11) stayed.... (stay) withthem for several days and 12) found out.. (find out) that a very old
woman13) had actually met(actually/meet) the famous explorer. She 14) knew (know)how he 15) had
died.(die). Tom 16) became.(become) very friendly with thenatives and now he 17) is planning (plan)
to go back and see them again. He is surethey 18) will welcome..(welcome) him back.
2. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
When Francis Lee was a boy he 1) ....wanted..... (want) to be an astronaut. He2) was watching...(watch) TV one day
in 1969 when he 3) saw. (see) Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Since then he 4) has always dreamt
(always/dream) of doing the same. Every night when there is a full moon, he 5)stares.. (stare) up at it for hours
and 6) imagines... (imagine) himself walking around on it. At the moment,however, he 7) is working.(work) as
a night-watchman at a meat factory. He 8) hasbeen doing. (do) the same job since he left school fifteen years ago,
but he still hopesthat one day his dream 9) will come... (come) true. He 10) has heard (hear) thatin the 21 St
century they 11) will sell/will be selling...... (sell) tickets to fly to the moon. For this reason he 12) has been
saving...(save) half of his wages every month for the pasttwo years.
3. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Sue Thomas is a fashion designer. She 1) ... has been making.... (make) clothes ever since she 2) was.(be) a
young girl. She 3) got. (get) her first job in a clothesfactory when she was sixteen. She 4) was sewing (sew)
buttons onto a shirt oneday when she 5)had... (have) a brilliant idea for a design- After she 6) had spoken.
(speak) to her bank manager, she got a loan and she 7) opened...(open) her own littleworkshop. Now she 8) is
making/makes. (make) lots of money. Next year she 9) isopening/is going to open.. (open) a shop which will
sell all her own designs. She 10) has sold/sells (sell) clothes to a lot of famous people, including film stars and
singers,and she 11) thinks.... (think) she will be very rich soon.
4. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Kevin Adams 1)...loves....(love) trains. He first 2)....saw.....(see) onewhen he was four years old and he 3)
.....thought....(think) it was great. He 4)....goes....(go)to a different railway station every week and 5)...writes down...
(write down) the enginenumber of every train he sees. He 6)....has been doing.....(do) this since he was eight. Bythe
time he was fifteen he 7).....had collected....(collect) over 10.000 different enginenumbers in various counties. Once,
while he 8)...was standing....(stand) in a station inCheshire he saw something very unusual. He 9)....had been
waiting.....(wait) for over anhour for a train to go by when suddenly he 10)......saw....(see) a very old steam
traincoming down the track. It 11)....didnt stop.....(not/stop) at the station and, as it waspassing, Kevin noticed that all
the passengers 12)...were wearing...(wear) old-fashionedclothes. When he told the station guard about this, the poor
man turned pale. He said thatno steam train 13)....has/had passed...(pass) through that station for years, and that thelast
one 14).....had crashed...(crash), killing everyone on board.
5. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, scientists, politicians and theologians1) .....have been discussing.....
(discuss) the question of whether or not the cloning of human beings2) .....should be allowed.....(should/allow). If
cloning does become a reality one day, it3) ...will raise....(raise) many questions. Many scientists want cloning 4)....to
be....(be) legalised.They believe that if it 5) .....were...(be) legal to clone human beings, it 6) .....would be..........
(be)possible to create a superior race. Many childless couples also wish the goverment 7).......wouldallow....(allow)
cloning. If this 8) ....were......(be) the only way for you to have a child, you might agreewith them too.
6. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
Sammy Milton 1) .... is not .... (not/be) very clever. He 2) was walking...(walk) along thebeach one daywhen he 3)
tripped. (trip) over something and 4) fell (fall) on thesand. He 5)wasnt looking/hadnt been looking..
(not/look) where he was going.
What 6) is. (be) this? he said, picking up the object he 7) had tripped...(trip) over.I 8) have never seen.
(never/see) anything like it before. It was, in fact, a very old oillamp, and as he 9) was rubbing... (rub) it, a genie
suddenly 10) flew (fly) out of it.You 11) have just released.... (just/release) me from the lamp!, said the
genie. Nowyou may have three wishes. Great! said Sammy who12) was feeling... (feel) verythirsty. I 13)
want(want) a bottle of lemonade that never 14) runs out(run out).No problem, said the genie, and 15)
produced.(produce) one instantly. Sammypicked up the bottle and16) drank...(drink) all the lemonade in one go.
Magically, thebottle 17) filled (fill) itself up again. Sammy drank all that, and exactly the same thing18)
happened...(happen) again. Thats amazing! he said. Thanks very much! Youstill 19) ....have... (have) two more
wishes young man. Thats easy, said Sammy. I20) ....ll have...(have) two more of these bottles of lemonade!.
7. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:

One day a little Indian boy 1) .... was sitting .... (sit) outside his wigwam. He 2) waswondering...(wonder) how the
Indians 3) choose/chose. (choose) their childrensnames. He 4) decided (decide) to go and ask the Indian
Chief. Well, 5)explained..(explain) the Chief, we 6) love. (love) nature and when a new baby 7) is...
(be)born, we 8) look. (look) around and we 9) choose... (choose) a name from whatwe10) see (see), like
Flowing Waterfall, Bright Star, Running Bull and so on. 11) Do you understand..... (you/understand)? Yes, chief,
the little Indian boy said. Why 12)are you.. (you/be) so intered in this, Two Dogs Fighting?, the Chief asked.
8. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense:
One afternoon, while I 1).....was walking.....(walk) in town, I 2).....saw... (see) a poster for a liquor promotion at a club
I 3) ...used to go....(used to, go) to. They 4) ....were advertising.....(advertise) a vodka disco. Later that week, my
friend and I 5)...decided....(decide) to go tothis club to find out what 6) ....was going on.....(go on). It was a drink-asmuch-vodka-as-you-can evening, with music and prizes for the best dancers. After we 7).... entered.....(enter) the
club, a man 8) .....gave... (give) each of us a T-shirt and a badge in the shape of a vodka bottle. To my surprise , all the
drinks 9)......were....(be) free.We 10) ....didnt drink..... (not drink) very much at all one vodka each- but other
youngpeople 11)....had been drinking...... (drink) heavily all evening. Some of the dancers 12)....looked.........(look)
quite drunk.
We all know that companies 13) ....try/ are trying......(try) to sell us their products and they14) ...use/will use... (use)
almost any means possible to encourage us to spend our money.15) ....Does this mean....... (this, mean) they can
convince us to buy anything?
Even thingsthat are bad for us?Think about it! The last time you 16) ......bought......(buy) an alcoholic drink, 17).....was
it.....(it, be) because you really wanted it, or because an ad persuaded you to do so?
9. Fill in the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
I 1. ...have been.... (be) a fan of soap operas for years. I 2. .....always watch...... (alwayswatch) my favourite show
three times a week. In fact, until about a week ago, I 3. ....hadnever missed...... (never / miss) a single episode. Last
Saturday, while I 4. ...was sitting..... (sit) in front of the TV, the electricity suddenly 5. .....went off...... (go off). After
waiting for about an hour, I finally phoned the telephone company. What 6. ..(has)happened...... (happen)? I asked
them. When 7. ...shall/will we have...... (we / have)electricity again? The man I spoke to said it 8. ..would take.....
(take) a while to fix theproblem. So I 9. ...didnt watch..... (not watch) my favourite soap opera that day.
Strangelyenough, I 10. ...havent watched..... (not watch) it since. Suddenly, there are so many other things to do! 10.
Complete the passage with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
Goldilocks is probably the most famous and most charming squatter of all times.While the Bear family..... was
looking ... (look) for breakfast, Goldilocks ...... broke into ..... (break into) their house and ...... made .... (make) herself
at home. The first thing she ...... saw ... (see) when she ....... had entered .... (enter) the house was food on thetable.
This made her happy because she .... had been walking .... (walk) in the woods for several hours and was very hungry.
Goldilocks immediately ....... sat down ... (sit down) atthe table to eat. When she ..... (had) finished .... (finish) the
meal, she ......... felt ...... (feel) very tired and ..... decided ... (decide) to look for a confortable place to rest.By the time
the bears ....... returned .... (return) from their hunt, Goldilocks ..... had already left ... (already leave) . To this day they
do not know who the squatter was.
John has always traveled a lot. In fact, he was only two years old when he first flew to the US. His mother is Italian
and his father is American. John was born in France, but his parents had met in Cologne, Germany after they had been
living there for five years. They met one day while John's father was reading a book in the library and his mother sat
down beside him. Anyway, John travels a lot because his parents also travel a lot.
As a matter of fact, John is visiting his parents in France at the moment. He lives in New York now, but has been
visiting his parents for the past few weeks. He really enjoys living in New York, but he also loves coming to visit his
parents at least once a year.
This year he has flown over 50,000 miles for his job. He has been working for Jackson & Co. for almost two years
now. He's pretty sure that he'll be working for them next year as well. His job requires a lot of travel. In fact, by the
end of this year, he'll have traveled over 120,000 miles! His next journey will be to Australia. He really doesn't like
going to Australia because it is so far. This time he is going to fly from Paris after a meeting with the company's
French partner. He'll have been sitting for over 18 hours by the time he arrives!
John was talking with his parents earlier this evening when his girlfriend from New York telephoned to let him know
that Jackson & Co. had decided to merge with a company in Australia. The two companies had been negotiating for
the past month, so it really wasn't much of a surprise. Of course, this means that John will have to catch the next plane
back to New York. He'll be meeting with his boss at this time tomorrow.

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