GAP-FILLING, VERB TENSES

Fill in the blanks with the suitable form of the verbs in brackets. (escribe los verbos entre paréntesis en
el tiempo apropiado)

1º
Mary and Jane are twin sisters. When they (be born) _______________ their mother (die)
___________________. They (be separated) _____________. Mary (go) _________________ to live in
France and Jane to England. They (be) _________________ 16 years old now and they (not see)
_______________ each other since they (be) ___________ 3 years old. Nowadays they (be)
________________ in touch, they (write) ____________ letters twice a month. They (speak)
_________________ different languages but Mary (learn) ________________ English, Jane (learn)
______________ French for 3 years now to be able to communicate. They (discover) ___________________
they were sisters when they (see) ______________ a picture at school while they (do) __________ an
international student exchange. Next summer they (visit) ______________ Germany together, they hope
they (have) _____________ a great time.

2º
Dear Ellen,
You probably _______________ (not imagine) where I ______________ (write) you from. This the most
wonderful experience of my life. Two months ago I ________________ (read) on the paper that a wood
company ______________ (want) to cut some very old trees in a forest and I _____________ (decide) I
______________ (have) to do something about it. So I ____________ (make) a tree house in one of the
biggest trees. I ____________ (climb) up to it and here I am. I _______________ (climb) up here last
September, so I _______________ (be) here for almost 4 months. All the media _______________ (show) a
lot of interest in me and I ___________________ (answer) thousands of questions. Some journalists
______________ (even, take) pictures of me from a helicopter. I can say I ______________ (have) a
wonderful time, although sometimes at night it ______________ (get) very cold. I think I _____________
(stay) up here for another 2 or 3 months and during this time I _______________ (write) a diary
I ____________ (hope) some newspaper __________________ (publish) when I ______________ (get
down).
3º
Dear Jackie,
Thank you very much for your letter. It was great to hear from you. I have left school. I _______________
(leave) in July. I _______________ (be) fed up with it and I ______________ (want) to earn some money. I
_________________ (work) for a newspaper in London. It’s great.
Laura _______________ (leave) school, too. She _________________ (go) to college now. I
________________ (not see) her since she_______________ (go) to college. Casey ________________ (see)
her last week. She ______________________ (play) badminton with Sue. Casey says he
______________________ (not recognize) her, because she ____________________ (look) very different.
Vince, Sue and Casey ____________ (be) still at school, but they all _______________ (study) different
subjects. So, they _____________ (not see) each other very often. I _______________ (go out) with Sue now.
Sue and Vince _______________ (learn) to drive. They _______________ (be) 17 last month. Mr Scott
______________ (teach) them in his car. I _________________ (see) them yesterday. Sue _____________
(drive). I’ll be 17 in three months time. Then I _____________ (learn) to drive. _______________ (you stay)
in the States? Your parents __________________ (move) last summer, so I suppose you ________________
(no come back) here. Some new people______________ (move) into your old house, but I ___________ (not
meet) them yet.
Well that’s all the news for now. I hope that you _________________ (write) again.
Bye for now, Love Terry.

4º
Sarah (like, always) ______________travelling and now she (think) _____________ that one of her dreams
(come) ______________true. Last year she (finish) _____________her studies at secondary school, she
(want) ____________to give herself some time to think before she (go) ___________ to university. While she
(study) _________ at school she (meet) ____________ a boy from Costa Rica who (tell) ________ her a lot
about his country. From that moment she (want) ____________ to visit this country. Some days ago, she (see)
__________some information about volunteer work in Costa Rica and (decide) ____________ to apply. She
(be chosen) ______________ and she (spend) ____________ the next 8 months working on a school project,
at the same time she (learn)___________ Spanish.

5º
Mary (be born) _____________ in Glasgow but when she (be) ____________ 3 years old her parents (move)
___________ to London. She (go) ____________ to school in London. While she (study) _______________
at University she (have) ___________ a serious accident and she (spend) _____________ 6 months in bed.
During this time, she (learn) _______________ French and when she finally (get) _____________ up from
bed she (speak) ___________ it fluently. She (get) _____________ a job as French translator in 2001, and she
(work) ____________ for this firm since then. She (like) __________ the job because it (allow) ____________
her to speak to a lot of people but right now she (consider) _______________ the possibility of changing her
job. Next year she (take) ______________ a course in computer science because she (think) ____________
it (give) _______________ her the opportunity to find a better job.

6º
Thomas Nelson (study) _____________. Spanish for 3 years when he (come) ______________ here two
months ago. He (study) ________________at Salamanca University and (live) _______________ in a flat with
three other students. When he first (arrive) ___________ 2 months ago, the first thing that (attract)
____________ his attention was that the streets (be)__________ always full of people, even at night. Before
he (come) ___________to Spain he (read) ____________ about the country and the people, but he (not
imagine) ___________ it could be like this. His flat mates (tell) ____________ him that he (get used)
____________ to the way of living quite soon. During the two months he (be) _____________ here, he
(already, learn) _________ quite a lot of colloquial Spanish. At the moment he (practise) ___________.
Spanish in his classes during the day and in different pubs at night, next Easter he (visit) _________Seville ant
its famous Holy Week.