Exercise 72. HIGHER . Use the Past Simple or the Present Perfect (Simple).

“Oh, it's you, John! You haven’t been in touch with me for a long time. I'm
glad you rang/ have rung up. Where have you been all these weeks? I hope you
weren’t ill? "
“No, I was very well, though I had a slight cold last week. The fact is I was
very busy indeed. I rang you up about two days ago, but I got no answer. I think
you were away at the time; it was a Sunday afternoon."
“Yes, I remember what happened: on the Saturday I had a letter from Aunt
Susan. She told me she needed to see me about selling some shares. So, I went
down to see her on the Sunday."
“And she sold the shares?”
"Yes, and she made a good profit on them."
"I'm glad to hear she has. She hasn’t had much luck since your Uncle
Fred died."
"She had to be very careful with her money. Those shares were worth
next to nothing when Uncle Fred bought them, but they suddenly appreciated
and fortunately Aunt Susan noticed that and sold them at the right time, for
since then they have gone down a bit, and yesterday they were quoted at
considerably less than what she sold them for."

Exercise 74. HIGHER. Use Past Simple or Present Perfect.

"You look pale. Has anything happened to you?"

"I didn’t have an accident, if that's what you mean. But it was almost as
bad."
"I just made tea. Sit down and have a cup and tell me what you have been
up to."
"Last week I bought a packet of nut chocolate and it turned out to be the
most expensive I have ever bought. I put a piece in my mouth and bit hard and
believe me, one of my teeth broke with a crack like a pistol-shot! I spat out a large
bit of tooth and a small stone."
"Didn’t your tooth hurt dreadfully?"
"To begin with it only ached a little but I woke up in the night with
violent toothache. I had no more sleep that night. I have never been in such
agony. I rang up the dentist as soon as possible. I saw him the same day and he
gave me a temporary filling. But the tooth was too badly damaged to be saved
and so I went back to him early this afternoon and he took it out. I just came
from his surgery. I have lost my appetite, especially for chocolate, but I am
grateful you made a cup of tea, it will do me all the good in the world."
"I'm so sorry you had such a dreadful time. I'm glad you remembered me
and came here immediately after leaving the dentist's."