Autonomous University of Queretaro

Faculty of Engineering
English VII. First Midterm. Grammar Study Guide

A. Complete with a/an, the, or -.

1. I saw ___ accident this morning. ___ car crashed into ___ tree. ___ driver of ___ car
wasn’t hurt, but ___ car was badly damaged.
2. There are two cars parked outside: ___ blue one and ___ grey one. ___ blue one belongs
to my neighbors; I don’t know who ___ owner of ___ grey one is.
3. Have you had ___ dinner yet?
4. You’ll find ___ information you need at ___ top of ___ page 15.
5. My brother has always been very healthy. He’s never been in ___ hospital.
6. Shall we meet after ___ work tomorrow evening?
7. We dinned with ___ Johnsons. They’re a very nice family.
8. If I’m feeling tired, I go to ___ bed early.
9. The economic situation was very bad. Many people were out of ___work.
10. Ron and Brenda got married, but ___ marriage didn’t last very long.
11. What makes ___ people violent. What causes ___ aggression?
12. ___ River Volga flows into ___ Caspian Sea
13. Africa’s highest mountain is ___ Kilimanjaro (5895 meters)
14. Have you ever been to ___ British Museum?
15. ___ Hyde Park is a very large park in central London
16. ___ Grand Hotel is in ___ Baker Street
17. ___ Dublin Airport is situated about 12 kms from the city center.
18. Frank is a student at ___ Liverpool University.
19. ___ Statue of Liberty is at the entrance to ___ New York Harbor.
20. I’d like to go to China to see ___ Great Wall.

B. Complete with the present simple or the present continuous of the verb in brackets.
1. The sauce _______________ (taste) really good
2. Don’t put the dictionary away. I _______________ (use) it
3. I _______________ (think) of selling my car. Would you be interested in buying it?
4. I _______________ (think) you should sell your car. You _______________ (not/use) very
often
5. The swimming pool _______________ (open) at 7.30 every morning.
6. My parents _______________ (live) in a very small flat
7. I _______________ (not / go) out this evening. I _______________ (stay) at home.
8. The sun _______________ (rise) in the east
9. Paul and Sally have had an argument. They _______________ (not / speak) to each other.
10. The River Amazon _______________ (flow) into the Atlantic Ocean
11. ‘I _______________ (go) to the cinema this evening’ ‘_______________ (film / begin) at
3.30 or 4.30?’
12. The Dutch team _______________ (play) a qualifier against Sweden for the World Cup on
Tuesday 10 October
13. We _______________ (have) a party next Saturday. Would you like to come?
14. The art exhibition _______________ (finish) on 3 May

15. I _______________ (not use) the car this evening. So you can have it.
16. There _______________ (go) our bus! We’ll have to wait for the next one
17. Pride and Prejudice is a tale of love in which Elizabeth _______________ (fall) in love with
Mr. Darcy.
18. I _______________ (look) for Christine. Do you know where she is?
19. In The Exorcist, the priest _______________ (die) at the end.
20. Kate phone me last night. She’s on holiday in France. She _______________ (have) a
great time and doesn’t want to come back
C. Here are two views on the government's announcement that is to cut the money it gives
to the Influenza Research Center. Complete with present perfect, present perfect
continuous or past simple.
VIEW 1
The previous government 1 ________________ (invest) huge amounts of money into the
Center last year and I think it's terrible that the present government 2 _________________
(announce) this cut when the number of influenza 3 ________________ (increase) since
2013. The Center 4 ________________ (run) successfully for many years. But this decision
is just typical of this government. It 5 ________________ (neglect) health research ever
since it was elected, and 6 ________________ (cut) back on spending on science generally.
Although the government says that the cut is necessary because of the recent world
economic problems, I 7 ________________ (find) evidence that they 8 ________________
(plan) this for some time. I 9 ________________ (speak) to the Minister about this yesterday
and 10 ________________ (also / write) to the Prime Minister demanding that the decision
should be reversed.

VIEW 2
It's remarkable to think since 1950 influenza 1 ________________ (claim) more than 5,000
lives in this country, and in 1957 alone around 6,000 people 2 ________________ (die).
But over the last 20 years we at the Centre 3 ________________ (make) considerable
progress on understanding the illness. We 4 ________________ (produce) over a hundred
books and articles reporting the results of our research and in 2012 they
5_______________ (award) the Nobel Prize for medicine to one of my colleagues. In our
more recent work we 6 ________________ (look) into the effects of influenza on heart
disease and we 7 ________________ (also/ explore) a possible link between climate
change and the recent increase in the number of cases of influenza. It is a tragedy that the
government 8 ________________ (make) this decision now.

D. Choose the correct answer

1. There are _______ of interesting courses that you can take.
a. many c. plenty
b. much d. lot
2. There is too _______ mustard in my sandwich.
a. much c. lots
b. many d. plenty
3. Could you give me _______ time to think about it? I can't make a decision this quickly!
a. much c. many
b. some d. plenty
4. Very _______ students made it onto the master's course as they needed to have
achieved a very high mark for their bachelor's degree.
a. many c. few
b. little d. much
5. I got there really fast. There was _______ traffic on the roads.
a. too much c. hardly any
b. so few d. plenty

E. Fill in the gaps with the past simple or past continuous of the verbs in brackets
1. My parents got (get) to know each other when they were studying
(study) at university.
2. Doctor Fisher _________________ (travel) widely as a young man and
_________________ (always keep) a diary
 3. I _________________ (see) my brother and his girlfriend when I _________________
(wait) for the bus, but they _________________ (not see) me
4. Lily _________________ (fill) in the application form and _________________ (give) it to
the receptionist
5. While I _________________ (work) in Rome, I _________________ (meet) a girl who
_________________ (look) just like your sister
6. Simon _________________ (finish) with his girlfriend because she _________________
(always cancel) dates at the last moment
7. Anna’s feeling depressed because she _________________ (hope) for a pay rise last
week, but she _________________ (not get) one

F. Underline the correct form of the verbs.

MAKING CHANGES
Ada Atkins, 93, explains why she has come to live in town
Years ago, nobody in my village would lock/ was looking (1) their front doors. We used to
feel / would feel (2) safe in those days. Last month, I met / was meeting (3) my neighbor in the
street when I was walking / would walk (4) home from the shops and she told / was telling (5)
me some bad news. Thieves were breaking / used to break (6) into people’s houses while they
were sitting / would sit (7) in their back gardens.
I realized / was realizing (8) that I wasn’t wanting / didn’t want (9) to live there anymore. So
last week I was moving / moved (10) to this little flat. I am not used / didn’t use (11) to being
in the town yet, but people are friendlier than I was thinking / thought (12) they might be, and
I feel much happier and safer.

G. Fill in the gaps with the past simple, the past perfect or the past perfect continuous of
the verb in brackets.
1. I had never ridden (never ride) a bike until I went (go) to live in
Amsterdam.
2. When Martin ____________________ (come) into the room, his mother nearly
____________________ (faint) because she ____________________ (see) him for nearly
20 years
3. We were held up in a traffic jam so the concert ____________________ (begin) by the time
we ____________________ (arrive)
4. How long ____________________ (you applying) for jobs when you
____________________ (get) this one?
5. ____________________ (you ever do) any carpentry before you ____________________
(build) that cupboard?
6. ____________________ (not see) Lisa when I went round last night because she
____________________ (go) to stay with her grandmother
7. As soon as I ____________________ (sit) down on the train, I realised that I
____________________ (leave) my passport at home
8. I ____________________ (drive) for about four hours when I ____________________
(realize) that I was completely lost
9. When I ____________________ (go) into the room, everyone ____________________
(stop) talking and ____________________ (look) at me
 10. After he ____________________ (wash) his clothes, he ____________________ (hang)
them outside to dry
11. The manager was shocked when he ____________________ (discover) that Jane was a
thief. Up until then, he ____________________ (believe) that she was completely honest

H. Fill in the gaps with the past simple, the past perfect or the past perfect continuous of
the verbs in the box.
agree arrange arrive bang(knock) come forget go have
move not answer not hear phone play practise

THE BAND PLAYED ON …

I had a rather embarrassing experience last year. At that time I played in a band with some
friends of mine and, rather nervously, we had agreed (1) to play at a friend’s
wedding. We _________________ (2) together for about three months and it was the first
booking we _________________ (ever) (3) so we _________________ (4) really hard for
weeks.
The wedding was on a Saturday. The day before the wedding I had moved to a new flat so I
_________________ (5) furniture all day and _________________ (6) to bed exhausted. At
nine o’clock on the Saturday morning the rest of the band met, as we _________________
(7), to practise. They kept phoning me but I _________________ (8). So in the end one of
them _________________ (9) round and _________________ (10) on the door for fifteen
minutes until I woke up. He told me that they _________________ (11) me all morning. I
_________________ (12) anything and nearly missed the wedding. When I finally
_________________ (13) at the wedding, I realised that I _________________ (14) my guitar.
I. For each gap, put the verb in brackets into the past simple, past continuous, past perfect
or past perfect continuous.
Last week 1 went (go) to the mountains with my cousins. None of us
2______________ (ever ski) before so we 3 ______________ (look) forward to it for months.
While we 4 ______________ (drive) to the airport, it 5 ______________ (start) to snow and we
were really excited. But when we 6 ______________ (get) off the plane in the mountains, there
7 ______________ (not be) any snow at all. Everyone there 8 ______________ (say) it was too
warm for snow. We 9 ______________ (go) to bed feeling sad that we wouldn’t be able to ski.
But when we 10 ______________ (get) up the next morning and 11 ______________ (look) out
of the window we realised that it 12 ______________ (snow) all night and we would be able to
ski after all.

J. Circle the correct alternative in italics in each of the following sentences.

1. When he walked / was walking home from work, he found a wallet which someone had
dropped
2. When I went to primary school, I was doing / used to do about one hour’s homework a day.
3. As soon as Mandy was getting / got the message, she was jumping / jumped into her car and
was driving / drove to the station.
4. When I was a child, we used to spend / were spending our holidays in my grandparents’
village
5. Luckily, we walked / were walking past a shopping centre when the storm began / was
beginning.
6. I used to visit / was visiting many unusual places when I was / was being a tour guide.

K. Put the verb in brackets in the following sentences into either the past simple or past
perfect
1. We were feeling hungry although we had eaten (eat) lunch only an hour before.
2. I didn’t know my way around the city because I _____________________ (never be) there
before.
3. The party, which our hosts _____________________ (organise) before we arrived, was one
of the most enjoyable parts of our trip.
4. When I _____________________ (arrive) in Nairobi, I wasn’t allowed into the country
because I _____________________ (lose) my passport
5. I _____________________ (recognise) her from the photograph although I
_____________________ (never speak) to her before.
6. He helped to raise money to repair homes which the hurricane _____________________
(damage).

L. Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple, past perfect simple or past perfect
continuous.
1. The storm damaged the house where she _____________________ (live) since she left
school.
2. We _____________________ (walk) up the mountain for about three hours when suddenly
it _____________________ (begin) to rain.
3. I _____________________ (already finish) the work when she _____________________
(offer) to help me
4. I _____________________ (only speak) for 30 seconds when he interrupted me with a
question
5. I was tired and dirty when I _____________________ (get) home because I
_____________________ (walk) in the country all afternoon.