CDU Supplementary Material

Speakout Intermediate Unit 2.2

Objective: to distinguish a range of verb forms

‘Review of Narrative Tenses’

I. Circle the correct alternatives.

1. I________ with friends when someone stole their car.

a. had stayed b. stayed c. was staying
2. When her brother was in prison, she ________ him every month.
a. had visited b. visited c. was visiting
3. I _________ her after she had spent six months in prison.
a. hadn’t recognized b. wasn’t recognizing c. didn’t recognize
4. ______you_______ the suspect before you saw her in court?
a. Did/meet b. Were/meeting c. Did/met
5. ______the police_____ the men who stole the money yesterday?
a. Were/arresting b. Did/arrest c. Had/arrested
6. I had an accident because I _______ at the road.
a. wasn’t looking b. hadn’t looked c. didn’t look
7. The jury ________ a decision so the judge sent them home.
a. didn’t make b. weren’t making c. hadn’t made

II. Join the sentences with the words in brackets. Use the correct verb form as necessary.

1. The prisoners ate breakfast. They went to the exercise area. (after)
__________________________________________________________________
2. The bell rang. They woke up. (when)
__________________________________________________________________
3. They committed serious crimes. They were in prison. (because)
__________________________________________________________________
4. They appeared in court. They were sent to prison. (before)
__________________________________________________________________
5. The police arrested her. The shoplifter confessed. (as soon as)
__________________________________________________________________
6. She didn’t tell the children. Their father went to prison. (By the time)
__________________________________________________________________
7. The judge didn’t sentence the teenager. She listened to the evidence. (until)
__________________________________________________________________

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III. Complete the newspaper article with “Past Simple”, “Past Continuous” or ”Past Perfect”
form of the verbs in brackets.

It has been now two days since the explosion which shook southern England. Our reporter
went to the scene to speak to some of the victims and witnesses.

Leo Parker, security guard

Mr. Parker E.g. _was going_ (go) towards the main building when the explosion happened.
“I 1) __________ (be) very lucky. I 2) _________ (park) my car two minutes before and
3) ___________ (walk) to the office. Suddenly there was a great flash of lights and then
the loudest bang I have ever heard. I 4) _________ (fall over) but I 5) ____________ (not
be) hurt badly.”
Helena Aldridge, computer systems manager
“I 6) __________ (work) at my desk and the next second I was on the floor. My boyfriend
7) ___________ (leave) the office five minutes before and I was very worried about him.
At that moment my mobile 8) ___________ (ring) and I 9) ___________ (hear) his voice
saying “10) ________you_______ (hear) that?” That was a stupid question!
Max Finkle, airline passenger
“I 11) _________ (fly) into London from Canada and about a minute before the captain
12) _________ (told) us to put on our seat belts ready for landing. I 13) __________ (look)
out of the window because I 14) __________ (want) to see London below us. There was
suddenly a big orange light north of London –it was enormous.”
Clara Kent, local resident
Clara Kent 15) ______________ (drive) to the offices to collect her fiancé, Greg.
“I 16) _________ (arrive) at 3.55 p.m. and Greg was ready so he 17) _______ (get in) and
I 18) _______
____ (drive) away. As we 19) ___________ (drive) away from the building, we 20)
__________ (see) this huge white light but we 21) ___________ (not hear) the noise until
a second later.

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IV. Complete the text with the correct form of the verbs in brackets: past simple, past
continuous, or past perfect.

My First Car Nightmare

This story 1) __________ (happen) to me about five years ago and it’s probably the worst
thing that’s ever happened to me while driving a car. I 2) ___________ (buy) my car the
week before and I 3) _________________ (still feel) very excited about it. It 4) _________
(not have) air conditioning but that 5) _____________ (not matter) to me because it was
my first car! I 6) __________ (know) that my best friend Penny 7) __________ (always
want) to visit a picturesque little village in the mountains about 150 kilometers from
where we live, so I 8) _________________ (call) her and 9) __________ (tell) her that I
would take her there the following day. It was a perfect, warm spring day. The sun 10)
_________ (shine) and the sky was blue. While I 11) _______________ (drive) and we 12)
___________________ (chat), I 13) __________ (see) something out of the corner of my
eye. It was a wasp which 14) _________ (fly) into the car! Penny and I both 15)
__________ (try) to kill the wasp which 16) _______ (buzz) around inside the car. But the
wasp suddenly 17) _________ (disappear). Then I 18) _________ (feel) a pain in my arm:
the wasp 19) _____________ (sting) me! I forgot that I 20) ___________ (drive),
and…..BANG! I 21) ___________ (crash) into the car in front of us. Nobody was hurt but
that was the end of our day out and of my car.

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 V. Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the verbs given in brackets.

The day after the big marathon. I was still in bed, trying to relieve the pains in my
legs. “What a close race.” I thought to myself and turned to have a look at my beautiful
trophy sparkling on the top shelf of my bookcase. My family and I 1) _______________ (put)
it there hoping that others would follow it. The pride and joy that I felt each time I looked at
it was indescribable. Realizing that I 2) _____________ (spend) too much time resting. I
decided to get some exercise because I knew that a short workout would do my legs good.
The sun 3) ____________ (shine), so I thought it would be a good idea to ride my bike
around the block for a while. I 4) ___________ (cycle) down the hill when I
5) _______________ (see) a car travelling towards me at top speed. I hoped it would slow
down, but it didn’t. I didn’t have enough time to escape and it 6) __________ (crash) right
into me, knocking me off my bike. There was no sign of the driver after the accident. The
police are still searching. They have been looking for him everywhere since the accident.
Unfortunately, they 7) ___________ (can/find) him yet. The doctors told me that I would
never be able to run again. And, I guess, this trophy will be the only one I’ll ever have on my
shelf.

VI. Complete the letter with the word in brackets in the correct form “Past simple”,
“Present perfect” or “Past perfect”.

Dear Jenny,
Please help me. I have two children, Sarah who is five and is an angel and Lawrence who is a
teenager and driving me crazy. For example, last week he 1) ______ (leave) the house and
2) ________ (not come) back for three days. Before last week he 3) ___________ (never do)
this. I 4) __________ (try) everything the books tell you to do. Over the last few months, I
5) __________ (be) understanding and polite to him but every time I 6) ________ (speak) to
him he 7) ________ (get) angry and 8) _________ (start) to shout at me. Until last year he
9) _________ (be) a good boy and 10) __________ (always help) me at home. What can I
do?