: Past Tense Simple

Past Tense Simple

Formation
Affirmative: SB + VB-ed/VB (2nd form)
Ex: In 2010 unemployment in Romania rose/ increased by 2%.

Interrogative: DID + SB + VB
Ex: When did they send the cheque?

Negative: SB + DID NOT (DIDN’T) + VB

Ex: The company’s shareholders didn’t accept the takeover offer.

Spelling changes
 Verbs ending in a consonant preceded by a short vowel double the consonant before the ending -ed is
added:
stop–stopped
 Verbs ending in silent -e drop the e before the ending -ed is added:
live–lived
 Verbs ending in -y change the y into i:
try–tried

TASK ONE

Put each verb in brackets into past tense simple, making all the necessary spelling changes.
1. Oil prices ............ (stop) falling at the end of September.
2. Last year we ........... (outsource) our IT activity to a specialist company.
3. Yesterday they ............ (launch) a takeover bid for their main rival.
4. The company ............ (expand) aggressively during the boom years, but ............ (suffer) when
demand and prices ............ (plummet) during the downturn.
5. For many years, she ............ (work) in major financial institutions, where she ............ (serve) as
chief economist.
6. When the global financial crisis ............ (start) in 2008, the number of self-employed workers
............ (jump).
7. House prices ............ (decrease) sharply during the global economic downturn.
8. They ............ (try) to make up for the fall in domestic demand by increasing sales overseas.
9. Oil prices ............ (dip) in 2015 because output ............ (increase).
10. In 2008 he ............ (move) to the New York subsidiary to be the CFO, and in 2014 ............
(return) to London as Managing Director.
TASK TWO

Put each verb in brackets into past tense simple, making all the necessary spelling changes.
1. At the beginning of the 20th century prices ............ (go) down sharply, and ordinary people
............ (enjoy) a very good living standard.
2. The country’s trade deficit ............ (rise) in 2015, as exports ............ (fall) and imports ............
(increase).
3. America's economy ........... (grow) by 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015.
4. The company’s total revenues ............ (be) up 7 percent, and the operating profit ............ (be) up
26 percent in the first half of 2015.
5. Strong earnings from tourism ............ (drive) export growth during the past year, despite the slump
in commodity prices.
6. The company ............ (sell) two of its subsidiaries in 2006.
7. In the week to 30 December 2014 the euro ............ (gain) 2.3 percent, the dollar ............ (lose) 1.2
percent and the yen ............ (shed) 2.1 percent.
8. For years the company ............ (sell) defective products and ........... (fail) to acknowledge the
defect.
9. The company ............ (go) public in 2013.
10. Private consumption ............ (decline) as the end of the year ............ (see) a general rise in prices.

TASK THREE

Make questions starting from the following statements and using the words in brackets.
1. Last year we had a slump in sales due to increased competition. (why)
2. We sent you a cheque two days ago. (when)
3. The customer placed the order almost two months ago. (when)
4. The delay in shipping the order was caused by a strike by truck drivers. (what)
5. They paid by letter of credit. (how)

Usage
A. Past tense simple is used to refer to “states or events existing at some past time, excluding
present and future.”i
These states or events have two main characteristics: they have come to an end and took place at a
specified moment in the past, which is either expressed by a time adverbial (last week last month, last
year, yesterday, the day before yesterday, two years/days/weeks/months ago, in 1993, a long time ago,
once upon a time, some time ago, etc) or understood from context. For example, in the news excerpt
below the recovery of the Eurozone economy is seen as taking place at a definite moment in time (the
second quarter of 2013), which is mentioned in the second sentence of the paragraph, and then implied
throughout the text:
The prayed-for recovery in the euro area has finally come to pass. After a dismal 18 months in
recession, euro-zone GDP rose by 0.3% (an annualised rate of 1.1%) in the second quarter from its
 level in early 2013. That outcome was a bit stronger than expected, although the outlook for growth
remains weak.
The upturn was led by Germany, whose GDP increased by 0.7%. France did surprisingly well, with
output up by 0.5%. There was also some encouraging news from southern Europe. Output continued
to fall in Italy and Spain but the rate of decline slackened to 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. And there
was a sharp rebound in Portugal, which has suffered a deep recession: its GDP grew by 1.1%.ii
Past tense simple is strongly associated with verbs which denote events or activities, especially bodily
movements (activity verbs) and speech acts (communication verbs). In detail, some activity verbs (e.g.
bend, bow, lean, light, park, seat, set off, shake, stare, turn away, wave, wrap) are reported to occur over
70% of the time in the past tense, while some communication verbs (e.g. exclaim, eye, glance, grin, nod,
pause, remark, reply, shrug, sigh, smile, whisper) are reported to occur over 80% of the time in the past
tense.iii
Past tense simple is pervasive in many situations of business communication, from conversation to
correspondence, reports, and news stories.

Past tense simple in conversation

Past tense simple is used when talking about key dates and events in one’s life, both in social and in
professional contexts. The questions and answers below exemplify the use of past tense verbs in small
talk:
- Where were you born?
- I was born in Bucharest in 1975, but when I was five my parents moved to Sibiu so I grew up
there.
- Did you go to school there?
- No, I went to school in Bucharest. I earned my bachelor of arts degree in Economics in 2010,
and I was awarded the master of business administration degree last year.
- What did you do next?
- In 1998 I left school and joined a big company in my home town with subsidiaries all over the
country.
- When did you become sales manager for XYZ Ltd.?
- In 2004.

TASK FOUR

Write down some key dates and events in your life, e.g. where you were born, where you went to
school, what you did next.
Past tense simple is also used in job interviews when discussing various aspects of the candidates’ past,
i.e. personal history, background, employment history, how they heard about the position they are
interviewing for, their biggest professional achievement or failure, a challenge they faced at work and
how they dealt with it, etc:
- What were your responsibilities in your last job?
- I worked as a personal assistant to the head of sales of the XYZ Corporation in Brașov. My usual
secretarial duties included the organization of meetings and presentations, travel arrangements,
 dairy management as well as a variety of day-to-day functions. In addition to these, I was
responsible for the supervision of the other secretaries and typists, preparation of reports and
other documents. My job also involved frequent liaison with the company’s regional offices in
other cities of Romania.
- What did you like about your previous job?
- I liked the professional attitude and the workplace environment that was provided to me.
Another thing I liked was the fact that the company believed in their employees and constantly
thought about their professional development and personal growth.

TASK FIVE

Complete the empty spaces in the paragraphs below with the missing words.
a. Describe a time when you didn’t get along with a colleague.
When I first ............ (1) working at the XYZ corporation, I ............ (2) to disagree with a colleague
in the X department. We ............ (3) over a lot of things, and through word of mouth I ............ (4)
that many of my suggestions ............ (5) on her toes. After several weeks of arguing, one day I
............ (6) her out to coffee and we ............ (7) about our differences and why we weren’t getting
along. I ............ (8) what the real problem was, and ............ (8) with a solution that ............ (9) the
pressure off. As a result, our work was streamlined and we ............ (10) our tasks in a prompt and
efficient manner.iv
b. Why did you leave your last position?
Unfortunately, the company’s biggest client ............ (1) of business at the beginning of the year
and that ............ (2) a major effect on revenues. As I ............ (3) the most recently hired in my
department, they ............ (4) to eliminate my position.v
c. Tell me about your biggest professional failure.
Last year, our team ............ (1) to land a very important project from one of our existing clients. I
think the biggest issue is that we ............ (2) it for granted that the project would be ours, and
although the team who ............ (3) to pitch did a very good job, we ............ (4) as hard as we
should have. A competitor ............ (5) in and ............ (6) the business, which ............ (7) a real
blow to the company, both from a financial and a moral perspective. I ............ (8) that I need to
pay more attention to the dynamics within the client organization, and never take a client for
granted.vi

TASK SIX

Answer the following interview questions:

1. Tell me about your biggest professional achievement.
2. What was your most difficult work experience and how did you deal with it?
3. How was your working relation with your previous supervisor?
4. Tell me a time when you disagreed with your boss about the way something should be done. How
did you handle that?

Past tense simple in academic prose

Past tense simple is used to narrate events in economic history. The text below about the Industrial
Revolution illustrates this usage:
The Industrial Revolution, in modern history, is the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft
economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This process began in Britain in
the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world. (…). The main features involved
in the Industrial Revolution were technological, socioeconomic, and cultural. (…). Workers acquired
new and distinctive skills, and their relation to their tasks shifted; instead of being craftsmen working
with hand tools, they became machine operators, subject to factory discipline. Finally, there was a
psychological change: confidence in the ability to use resources and to master nature was
heightened.vii

TASK SEVEN

Use the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

The Great Depression (1) ............ (be) a severe worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. The
timing of the Great Depression (2) ............ (vary) across nations; however, in most countries it (3)
............ (start) in 1929 and (4) ............ (last) until the late 1930s. It (5) ............ (be) the longest,
deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.
Worldwide GDP (6) ............ (fall) by 15% from 1929 to 1932. In the 21st century, the Great
Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline. The
depression (7) ............ (originate) in the United States, after the fall in stock prices that (8) ............
(begin) around September 4, 1929, and (9) ............ (become) worldwide news with the stock market
crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday).
The Great Depression (10) ............ (have) devastating effects in countries rich and poor. Personal
income, tax revenue, profits and prices (11) ............ (drop), while international trade (12) ............
(plunge) by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. (13) ............ (rise) to 25%, and in some
countries (14) ............ (rise) as high as 33%.
Some economies (15) ............ (start) to recover by the mid-1930s. In many countries, the negative
effects of the Great Depression (16) ............ (last) until the beginning of World War II.viii

TASK EIGHT

Translate the following paragraphs into English.

1. Criza economică mondială a fost o perioadă de declin economic în majoritatea țărilor din lume la
sfârșitul primului deceniu al secolului 21. Recesiunea din SUA a început în decembrie 2007 și s-a
încheiat în iunie 2009, depășind astfel 19 luni. Recesiunea globală care a urmat a avut drept
rezultat o scădere puternică a comerțului internațional, un șomaj în creștere și o scădere a
prețurilor la mărfuri. Guvernele și băncile centrale au răspuns cu politici fiscale și monetare pentru
stimularea economiilor naționale și reducerea riscurilor din sistemul financiar. Economistul Paul
Krugman a numit această recesiune “a doua Mare criză economică”.ix
2. Bula dotcomurilor a fost o bulă speculativă la sfârșitul anilor 1990. Acestă perioadă a fost marcată
de fondarea și în multe cazuri eșecul multor companii de internet, cunoscute sub numele de
dotcomuri. Bula dotcomurilor a atins punctul maxim în martie 2000, când valoarea acțiunilor din
sectorul de IT și alte sectoare înrudite au înregistrat o creștere rapidă la principalele burse din
 lume. Prăbușirea bulei dotcom a avut loc în perioada 1999-2001. Unele companii au dat faliment,
însă altele, deși au pierdut o mare parte din capitalizarea lor de piață, au rămas stabile și chiar au
depășit vârful atins în timpul bulei.x

TASK NINE

Write a paragraph on an economic event or period of your own choice. Refer to key dates and
developments, social effects, and other relevant aspects.
Past tense simple is also used to describe events in company history, as shown in the text below about
Samsung:
Samsung was founded in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three decades, the group
diversified into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities and retail. Samsung
entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in
the mid-1970s; these areas would drive its subsequent growth. In 1980s, Samsung Electronics began
to invest heavily in research and development, investments that were pivotal in pushing the
company to the forefront of the global electronics industry. (…). Samsung started to rise as an
international corporation in the 1990s. In 1993, Lee Kun-hee sold off ten of Samsung Group's
subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three
industries: electronics, engineering, and chemicals. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the
Sungkyunkwan University foundation. Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the
world in 1992, and is the world's second-largest chipmaker after Intel.xi

TASK TEN

Write a short company history of your own choice.

Past tense simple in trend descriptions

Past tense simple is used to describe economic trends, either at company level (e.g. sales, profits,
turnover, etc) or at that of the economy (e.g. inflation, unemployment, GDP, interest rates, imports,
exports, etc). Trend descriptions make use of a particular inventory of verbs and nouns that show change,
some of which are presented below:
Verb Noun Verb Noun
to increase increase to decrease decrease
to rise rise to fall fall
to go/ be up - to go/ be up -
to grow growth to decline decline
to climb climb to drop drop
to improve improvement to deteriorate deterioration
to recover recovery
to peak peak

In the third quarter, the monthly trade deficit rose as exports fell and imports rose.
In June, the number of job openings was down 5 percent compared with the same period last year.
 The Romanian economy grew by more than 3 percent in the January-September period of 2015.
Other related words render more specific shades of meaning, e.g. sharp and sudden change (plummet,
slump, plunge, tumble, soar, rocket, spike, take off, etc) as opposed to gradual and steady change (slip,
slide, glide, dwindle, climb, etc). The sentences below illustrate the usage of these words in news writing:
to plummet - to drop sharply and abruptly
China’s trade surplus surges 40% as imports plummet.xii
to slump - to decrease suddenly and by a large amount
European car sales slumped another 10 per cent in March.xiii
to plunge - to fall or drop suddenly in amount, value, etc
Billed as the “Great Fall of China”, stock markets around the world plunged on Monday (...). xiv
to crash - to decline suddenly and steeply
Why commodities have crashed (headline). Commodity prices have fallen to their lowest level since
the financial crisis (...).xv
to tumble - to fall suddenly and quickly
(...) the Australian dollar has tumbled 12 per cent, hit by weaker Chinese demand for commodities.xvi
to soar - to increase very quickly in amount or price
Facebook revenues soared by nearly two-fifths in the three months to June (...).xvii
to rocket - to rise up swiftly, spectacularly and with force
Greece would lose a prompt 8% of GDP and see inflation surge to 35% as the cost of imports
rocketed.xviii
to take off - to become successful or popular very quickly or suddenly
(...) the region gained as exports to China took off, but also from the price of exports to other
countries rising (...).xix
to spike - to increase greatly in a short period of time
In 2014, global investment in financial technology startups spiked to more than $12 billion.xx
to surge - to suddenly increase to an unusually high level
European countries are struggling to respond to the surge in the number of migrants.xxi
to slip - to fall off by degrees (slip into recession)
Recently released data show that the growth of the agricultural sector as a whole slipped to 2.1%
year on year in the first three quarters of 2015, (…).xxii
to shrink - to become smaller in amount, size or value
The Japanese economy shrank at an annualised rate of 1.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2015
(...).xxiii
to dwindle - to become steadily less
(...) the Central Bank of Egypt allowed a significant depreciation of the pound in January as foreign
reserves dwindled (...) xxiv
to slide - to become gradually lower or of less value
The Dow Jones index slid sharply at the opening, before rallying later.xxv
BHP Billiton shares jump despite profit slidexxvi

TASK ELEVEN
 Replace the words in italics in sentences 1-10 with synonyms from the box:
crash halve fall
rise spike soar
plummet contract slip
expand drop
weaken slump

1. In August, imports decreased ........... by more than 10% due to the low price of crude oil.
2. The dollar fell by degrees ........... against the Japanese yen yesterday.
3. House prices dropped sharply and abruptly ........... during the recession.
4. New car registrations in the EU increased ........... by almost 15% in October 2015.
5. The German economy became larger ............ in the first quarter of 2015.
6. The global economy became smaller ........... in 2009.
7. The central bank said that its foreign-exchange reserves became less ............ by more than $90
billion last month.
8. Unemployment suddenly increased to an unusually high level ............ at the beginning of the 20th
century and wages fell ............ .
9. Capital outflows increased very quickly ............ in China after the stock market declined suddenly
............ and the yuan became weaker ............ .
10. Last year the company’s sales decreased suddenly and by a large amount ............ and its profits
were reduced by a half ............ .

TASK TWELVE

Translate the following sentences into English, using the words in brackets.
1. Inflația a urcat până la 70% în aprilie, datorită unor creșteri puternice ale prețurilor la utilități.
(increase, spike)
2. Economia SUA s-a contractat cu o rată anuală de 0.7% în primul trimestru al anului 2015. (shrink)
3. Multe bănci s-au prăbușit între 2008 și 2010 datorită crizei financiare globale. (crash)
4. Luni prețul petrolului a scăzut sub 50 de dolari barilul, atingând nivelul cel mai scăzut din
ianuarie. (slide)
5. Exporturile au scăzut cu aproape 15% în Coreea de Sud în anul 2015, iar consumul intern a scăzut
de asemenea. (fall, slump)
6. Prețurile la petrol și gaz au explodat la mijlocul anilor 2000, datorită insuficienței resurselor.
(soar)
7. Creșterea ratelor dobânzii în 2007 s-a datorat numărului mare de cereri pentru creditele ipotecare,
care au atins un nivel foarte ridicat în primul trimestru al anului. (surge, spike)
8. Prețurile pentru obligațiunile guvernamentale cu maturitatea în 2018 au sărit până la 90 de cenți la
începutul lunii iulie. (jump)
9. Șomajul a crescut în Marea Britanie în anii 80, depășind nivelul de 3 milioane. (rise)
10. Economia Statelor Unite a crescut anul trecut, dar nu suficient de mult pentru a mări cererea
globală. (expand, boost)
The text below describes the German economy in the first quarter of 2015, by looking at exports,
consumption, and GDP. Note the use of past tense simple with grow, rise, expand, increase, add,
contribute, decline, drop, slow and of the gerund forms slowing, accelerating, registering, following in
order to describe the changes that took place in this period:
Quarter-on-quarter, private consumption grew by 0.2 percent, as compared to a 0.4 percent growth
in the March quarter. Public consumption rose 0.3 percent, slowing from a 0.6 percent growth in the
preceding quarter. Overall consumption contributed 0.1 percentage points to growth.
Gross fixed capital formation declined 0.4 percent, after registering a 1.7 percent expansion in the
first quarter of 2015 with investment in construction dropping the most (-1.2 percent). In contrast,
equipment investment grew by 0.1 percent and other plants investment expanded by 0.7 percent.
Exports grew by 2.2 percent, accelerating from 1.2 percent growth in the previous quarter. Imports
rose by 0.8 percent, slowing from 1.9 percent growth in the first three months of 2015 (…).
Year-on-year, the GDP expanded by 1.6 percent following a 1.2 percent expansion in the previous
quarter. Household final consumption and government consumption increased by 1.8 percent
respectively.xxvii

TASK THIRTEEN

Read the text above and for each of the following questions choose the correct answer:
1. In the first quarter of 2015, household spending on goods and services
a. increased by 0.1 per cent
b. increased by 0.2 per cent
c. fell by 0.4 per cent
d. leveled out
2. In the first quarter of 2015, government expenditures for purchases of goods and services
a. grew by 0.6 per cent
b. stagnated
c. increased by 0.3 per cent
d. fell by 0.3 per cent
3. In the first quarter of 2015, the value of products sold in other countries
a. increased by 2.2 per cent
b. increased by 1.23 per cent
c. increased by 1 per cent
d. leveled out
4. In the first quarter of 2015, the value of goods and services produced
a. grew by 1.8 percent
b. grew by 1.6 percent
c. grew by 1.2 percent
d. remained unchanged

TASK FOURTEEN

Arrange the words and phrases below in the correct order.

 1. from 0.4 percent/to 0.3 percent/gross domestic product growth/ slowed/in the Euro zone/in the
first quarter of 2015.
2. in the second quarter/decelerated/in the first quarter/to a weaker 4.2 percent
expansion/exports/from a 8.4% increase.
3. to a 0.4 percent rise/government spending/in the second quarter/from a 3.0 percent increase/fell/in
the first quarter.
4. slowing/in the first quarter of 2015/public consumption/from a 0.6 percent growth/rose/in the
preceding quarter/by 0.3 percent.
5. private consumption in the Euro zone/accelerating/in Q1/ by 6 percent/ from the 5 increase/in the
second quarter of 2015/grew.
6. a strong jump/output in France/in the first three months of the year/ after/ stagnated/in the second
quarter.
7. dropped/in the first quarter/imports/to a 8% rise/from 11 % growth/in the second quarter.

TASK FIFTEEN

The table below contains information regarding Romania’s economy in 2015 and 2016. Write a short
report using this information and the vocabulary introduced in this section.
Indicator 2015 2016
GDP 199 bn 177 bn
Consumer spending 2.9 bn 3.4 bn
Interest rate 3% 2%
Government spending 1.5 bn 1.6 bn
Exports 4.9 bn 5.2 bn
Imports 5.8 bn 6.0 bn
Unemployment 6.8% 6.1%

TASK SIXTEEN

The graph below shows the year-on-year changes in Romania’s GDP over an eight-year period.xxviii
Write a suitable commentary for this graph using past tense simple and the vocabulary introduced in
this section.
 220

208.18
210
199.49
GDP (billion USD)

200
191.55
190
185.36

180

171.54 171.66
170
167.42 168

160
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Past tense simple in business correspondence

Past tense simple is used in business letters and emails such as complaints, apologies, letters of reference
and recommendation, letters to shareholders.
Letters of complaint use past tense simple to provide a description of a problem encountered with a
product or service. Since complaints have to be specific and clear, past tense verbs are often accompanied
by a definite time adverbial, and sometimes followed by present continuous verbs describing the course of
action taken as a reaction to the problem. Note this interplay of tenses in the extract below:
On June 14, I ordered an answering machine with a built-in telephone (Article No. 172AM-TE) from
your Summer Sales Catalog. On opening the parcel I found that it did not contain the ordered item.
Instead it contained an entirely different machine. I am therefore returning the item for
replacement.xxix (Complaint about a wrong item shipped)
Past tense simple is similarly used in letters of apology, when explaining why a problem occurred. Note
the employment of the passive voice in letters dealing with negative situations as a strategy on the
writer’s part to avoid taking responsibility for these situations:
Thank you for your e-mail of April 9 and regret the error on your bimonthly invoice. When this invoice
was made up, two items had been duplicated, with the result that your company was overcharged
$1311.29.xxx
Past tense simple is used in letters of reference and recommendation in order to provide information about
an employee’s work history, performance and qualifications. The letter extract below exemplifies this
situation of use:
Ms. Conklin worked for our company from May 1998 to June 2004. She started out as a secretary
and became personal secretary to the vice president of our international marketing division after
three years because she showed a marked talent for handling problems and meeting tight schedules
and deadlines. She was absent for only four days in the seven years she worked at our company.xxxi
Past tense verbs are used in CVs to describe the applicant’s background and employment history. In the
CV extract below note the use of past tense simple and the omission of the subject:
- prepared reports and presentations, outlining findings and making recommendations for
improvements;
- analysed the bank's market position using modelling techniques;
- developed contingency plans to deal with emergencies.

TASK SEVENTEEN

Fill in the blanks with appropriate verbs to complete the texts below.
1. My office ............ (1) a room in your hotel for 17 May, as I ............ (2) to attend a conference in
Bucharest.
When ............ you ............(3) the room?
My office ............ (4) the booking on 12 May. However, when I ............ (5) on the evening of 17
May the receptionist ............ (6) me that they ............ (7) no rooms available, and ............ (8) that I
try another hotel.
2. I ............ (1) to Paris yesterday. I ............ (2) for ages after landing to collect my luggage, only to
find it ............ (3) on the flight. When I ............ (4) your office at 9.00 last night all I ............ (5)
was the answer phone telling me to ring back this morning.
3. Last month the central heating system that your company ............ (1) in our office ............ (2). I
............ (3) you about this, and you ............ (4) that you would send someone to repair it. No one
............ 5) and I ............ (6) you again. We ............ (7) no reply.
4. Last week, I ............ (1) an XYZ camera. Among the many features of the product, the sales
assistant ............ (2) that it ............ (3) water resistant. Yesterday, however, I accidentally ............
(4) it in the swimming pool. I ............ (5) it out but found it ............ (6) any more.
5. Mr. Johnson ............ (1) for our company from February 2004 to April 2008. He ............ (2) out as
sales representative in our sales division and ............ (3) sales manager after two years because he
............ (4) outstanding management skills and his work ............ (5) exemplary. Mr. Johnson
............ (6) his responsibilities with competence, diligence, and complete loyalty. I ............ (7) him
reliable, efficient, and entirely trustworthy. He ............ (8) also liked by all his colleagues in the
sales department. Mr. Johnson ............ (9) our company on his own free will to pursue a more
challenging position in another company.

TASK EIGHTEEN

For each of the following situations, write a short complaint and a short apology, using past tense
simple. Invent any details that you need.
Ex: Complaint about a damaged photocopier
Two weeks ago we ordered a photocopier (Order No.13899), which was delivered this morning.
However, when we opened the box, we found that the photocopier was damaged. One of its controls
was missing, and the lid was badly scratched.
Apology
We are sorry to hear about the damage to the photocopier that you ordered from us on 5 May. Our
delivery person informed us that the damage probably occurred during the shipment from the
manufacturer to our warehouse in Sibiu.

1. Complaint about a delay in the delivery of an order. (the supplier was out of stock)
 2. Complaint about damaged merchandise. (the damage happened during shipment)
3. Complaint about merchandise that does not match the samples. (the error was caused by a new
employee in the delivery department)

TASK NINETEEN

Write the employment section of a CV using the following clues.

1. Business intern - work in the accounts payable and accounts receivable department.
2. Junior accountant - post journal entries, prepare monthly financial reports, calculate payroll taxes,
audit and maintain accounts receivable and payable.
3. Senior accountant - prepare balance sheet, profit and loss account, and other statements, produce
payroll, provide information for auditors.

B. Past tense simple is used to indicate repeated actions in the past.

In the sentence below, the verb went refers to a series of actions rather than an isolated one, while were
refers to a continuing state that existed for a longer period of time:
There was a time when companies went overseas because labour costs were much lower than at
home.
Other ways of expressing a habit in the past include the constructions used to + verb and would + verb.
Note the employment of used to pay in the sentence below to refer to a discontinued habit in the past:
employers paid only wages in the past, while now they are also covering other costs:
Employers used to pay wages, but now they are also going to pay for their employees’ training and
development.

C. Past tense simple is used to express the feelings and thoughts of the persons involved in the
conversation.
In some contexts of everyday conversation past tense simple is used to convey a present meaning, more
exactly to make reference to the feelings or thoughts of the persons involved in conversation. In
particular, with verbs like think, wonder, and want, past tense can show that “the speaker is being
especially polite”xxxii:
I thought you might be interested to hear about a new power supply that we are producing.
I just wanted to let you know that your order has been shipped this morning.

i
Biber et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson Education Limited, p. 457
ii
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21583650-recovery-last-no-revelation-mirabile-dictu
iii
Biber et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson Education Limited, p. 459
iv
McKee, P. 2012. How to Answer Interview Questions: 101 Tough Interview Questions.
www.CareerConfidential.com. (adapted)
v
McKee, P. 2012. How to Answer Interview Questions: 101 Tough Interview Questions.
www.CareerConfidential.com. (adapted)
vi
McKee, P. 2012. How to Answer Interview Questions: 101 Tough Interview Questions.
www.CareerConfidential.com. (adapted)
vii
http://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution
viii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression (adapted)
ix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession (adapted)
x
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble (adapted)
xi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung
xii
https://www.ft.com/content/526f2e12-55da-11e5-a28b-50226830d644
xiii
https://www.ft.com/content/cc57a44e-c2fb-11e2-9bcb-00144feab7de
xiv
https://www.ft.com/content/74b41636-4c07-11e5-b558-8a9722977189
xv
https://www.ft.com/content/459ef70a-4a43-11e5-b558-8a9722977189
xvi
https://www.ft.com/content/4e067494-4b2a-11e5-b558-8a9722977189
xvii
https://www.ft.com/content/14a1a6bc-362e-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852
xviii
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21657451-could-parallel-currency-within-euro-zone-be-possible-
gradations-grexit
xix
https://www.ft.com/content/1c5ab988-2cde-11e5-8613-e7aedbb7bdb7
xx
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/06/08/2131260/techcrunch-discovers-finance-may-be-technological/
xxi
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34140403
xxii

http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=523556636&Country=Samoa&topic=Economy&subtopic=Forecast&s
ubsubtopic=Economic+outlook
xxiii
https://www.ft.com/content/5b09369c-4484-11e5-af2f-4d6e0e5eda22
xxiv

http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=573073041&Country=Egypt&topic=Risk&subtopic=Credit+risk&subs
ubtopic=Overview
xxv
https://www.ft.com/content/952a5c5c-4a60-11e5-9b5d-89a026fda5c9
xxvi
https://www.ft.com/content/899c377e-4afc-11e5-b558-8a9722977189
xxvii
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp-growth
xxviii
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2014&locations=RO&start=2007&view=chart
xxix
Bond, A. 2005. 300 + Successful Business Letters for All Occasions. Barron’s Educational Series, p. 31
xxx
Bond, A. 2005. 300 + Successful Business Letters for All Occasions. Barron’s Educational Series, p. 39
xxxi
Bond, A. 2005. 300 + Successful Business Letters for All Occasions. Barron’s Educational Series, p. 216
xxxii
Biber et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson Education Limited, p. 454