Simple Present Tense Review

Fill in the spaces with the correct form of the verb in simple present tense.

Hi. My name (be) ____________ Albert. My friends (call) ______________ me Al. You can

call me Al if you (like) _______________ I (want) ______________ to tell you about a

problem I (have) ___________. It (be, not) __________ ____________ a big problem, but it

is not a small problem, either. I (guess) ______________ it's somewhere between big and

small. I (have) ____________ a best friend. His name (be) _____________ Joe, but

everybody (call) ____________ him Joey. Joey and I have been friends for a long time. That's

the problem. Joey (like) ____________ to smoke. He (say) ___________ he (do, not)

_______ _______, but I (know) __________ he (do) ___________. He (try) __________ to

hide it from me, but I (see) __________ him do it sometimes. When I see him do it, he just

(laugh) ___________ and (walk) ____________ away. Now, Joey (smoke) ____________

every day. When he (come) __________ over to my house, he (always, bring) __________

__________ his cigarettes with him. He (keep) ___________ them in his pocket. He (think)

__________ they are cool. He (not, think) _______ _______ _______ it's a bad idea to

smoke. He (say) ___________, "(not, worry) _______ _______ _______ , Al. I'm okay." He

(tell) __________ me that I (not, understand) _______ _______ _______, but I (think)

__________ I (do) __________. I (feel) __________ like it's his right to smoke. He can do

what he (want) ____________ to do, right? But I can (not, help) __________ _________

worrying. He's my best friend.

Simple Present Tense and Simple Past Review
Complete the following exercise with the correct form of the verbs in parentheses. 

1. Hi, I (be) _______ Matt Rotell, a friend of Alice's. 

2. Oh, yes. Alice ________________  (mention) you the other day. Gee, you _____________

 (not look) like a detective. 

3. Well, that's good, I _________________ (guess). 

4. I'm curious. Tell me, how _____________ you ______________ (decide) to become 

    an undercover cop? 

5. Well, when I ________________ (be) a kid, I ________________ (love) to read detective 

    novels. By the time I ________________  (be) ten, I _______________ (read) every book 

    in the Hardy Boys series. I _________________ (know) that I ________________ (want)

to go into law enforcement. 

6. But according to Alice, you _______________________ (attend) law school nowadays. 

7. Right. I _______________ (get) married last month. I _____________________ (not

mind)  being on the police force when I _________________ (be) single, but ever since
I _________ (meet) Nicole, my wife, I__________________ (want) to do something less
dangerous. 

8. I _____________ (understand). By the way, ____________ you _________________ 

    (have) any luck yet with those counterfeiters? 

9. Well, I ____________________ (follow) them for more than a month now, but so far
__________________ (not be able to) catch them in the act. Sometimes I__________ (worry)
that by the time they're caught, I'll have my law degree and I'll be defending them!