Exercise 1:Choose the most suitable words underlined.

1. I never imagined the mountains to be/being so high!

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2. Don’t forget to wake me/waking me before you leave.
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3. What do you mean to do/doing about the leaky pipes?
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4. I regret to tell you/telling you that we cannot accept your offer.
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5. Did you manage to find/finding the book you were looking for?
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6. I tried taking/to take that medicine you gave me but I couldn’t swallow it.
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7. We have postponed to tell/telling anyone the news until after Christmas.
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8. Have you considered to buy/buying a microwave oven?
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9. Sorry I’m late, I had to stop to pick up/picking up the children from school.
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10. Margaret was slow at school, but she went on to be/ being Prime Minister.
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11. Helen doesn’t like the/- cream cakes sold in a /the local bakery.
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12. The/- basketball is fast becoming a/the popular sport worldwide.
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13. We could see the/- Alps were covered in the/-snow.
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14. It’s a/- long time since I met a/- lovely person like you!
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15. Diana has a/- degree in the/- engineering from the/- University of London.
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16. At the/- present moment, the/- man seems to have the/an uncertain future.
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17. The/- problem for the/- today’s students is how to survive financially.
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18. The/- French enjoy spending holidays in the/- countryside.
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19. Please do not turn on a/the water-heater in a/the bathroom.
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20. Sue bought a/the Picasso I was telling you about the/- last week.
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Exercise 2:Put each verb in brackets into a suitable past tense. Only use the past perfect
where there is absolutely necessary.
This time last year I (21) … (cycle) in the rain along a country road in France with a friend of mine.
We (22) … (decide) to go on a cycling holiday in Normandy. Neither of us (23) … (go) to France
before, but we (24) … (know) some French from our time at school and we (25) … (manage) to
brush up on the basics. Now we (26) … (wonder) if we (27) … (make) the right decision. We (28)
… (plan) our route carefully in advance, but we (29) … (forget) one important thing, the weather. It
(30) … (rain) solidly since our arrival and that night we (31) … (end up) sleeping in the waiting
room at a railway station. Then the next morning as we (32) … (ride) down a steep hill my bike
(33) … (skid) on the wet road and I (34) … (fall off). I (35) … (realise) immediately that I (36) …

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(break) my arm, and after a visit to the local hospital I (37) … (catch) the next train to Calais for the
ferry home. Unfortunately my parents (38) … (not expect) me home for a fortnight, and (39) …
(go) away on holiday. So I (40) … (spend) a miserable couple of weeks alone, reading Teach
Yourself French.
Harry went back to the camp the following morning, but it was in some confusion. Soldiers (41) …
(wander) around carrying equipment from one place to another, but there (42) … (not seem) to be
any purpose to what they (43) … (do). Harry (44) … (never be) in an army camp before, but it (45)
… (not take) a genius to realise that most of the officers (46) … (take) the first opportunity to
abandon the men and head for safety. He (47) … (try) to phone the newspaper, but something (48)
… (happen) to the telephone lines. He (49) … (try) to find out what exactly (50) … (go on).
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