Exercise 1

Decide whether a simple tense or progressive tense is appropriate for

each blank and give the correct form of the verb in parentheses. The first
one has been done for you.

1. Andre (a) (come) comes from Brazil and (b) (be) ____________ a native
speaker of Portuguese. Currently he (c) (study) _______________ English
at the University of Colorado. He (d) (take) ______________ two courses:
composition and American culture.

2. One of my most important in-groups (a) (be) _____________ my church

group. Right now we (b) (provide) ___________________ lunches for
homeless people in the city park. Also, some of us (c) (tutor)
_______________ junior high students in math and English for the
summer. Others in my group (d) (spend) ____________ part of the summer
doing volunteer work at senior citizen centers. We all (e) (feel)
_______________ that we (f) (gain) ___________ a great deal ourselves
by participating in these activities.

3. Next summer our family (a) (have) _____________ a reunion during the
July 4th holiday weekend. My uncle from Finland (b) (try) _____________
to come, but he (c) (start) _____________ a new business this year so it
(d) (be) _____________ difficult for him to get away. Another uncle (e)
(spend) _______________ the whole summer with us. He (f) (work)
______________ at my mother’s travel agency from June through August.

4. For many immigrants to the United States, their ethnic associations (a)
(remain) ______________ important in-groups long after they have left
their home countries. Even while they (b) (learn) ________________ a new
language, many (c) (look to) ______________ speakers of their native
language as an in-group that (d) (understand) ______________ their
struggles to adapt to a new way of life.
Exercise 2

For each blank below, choose a past simple, present perfect, or present
perfect progressive verb. The first one has been done for you.

(1) Alfredo (join) joined the Friends of the Theatre in his community five
years ago and (be) ______________ an active participant in this group
ever since.

(2) It (remain) _______________one of his favourite spare time activities

even though he (stop) ____________ trying out for roles in the plays last
year because he (be) __________________ too busy.

(3) As a member, he (help) ________________ promote the plays.

(4) At times, he (look for) ______________________ costumes for the

actors.

(5) For last month’s play, he (work) _________________ with the props
crew to get furniture and other props for the stage sets.

(6) He (find) ________________ an antique desk to use for one of the sets,
and he also (make) _________________ a fireplace.

(7) Most recently, he (try) ________________ to get more business to

advertise in the playbills.