NOME:

COGNOME:
NUM. DI MATRICOLA
ANNO DI CORSO:
ANNUALITA’ PER LA QUALE SI SVOLGE LA PROVA:

GRAMMAR EXERCISE

1. Complete each question using a suitable verb

1. A: I’m looking for Paul. __________________ him?

B: Yes, he was here a moment ago
2. A: Why ___________________ to bed so early last night?
B: I was feeling very tired
3. A: Where ____________________ ?
B: Just to the shops at the end of the street. I’ll only be ten minutes
4. A: ____________________ TV everyday?
B: No, only if there’s something special on
5. A: Your house is lovely. How long __________________________ here?
B: Nearly ten years
6. A: How was your parents holiday? ________________________ a nice time?
B: Yes, they really enjoyed it
7. A: _____________ Sarah recently?
B: Yes, we had lunch together a few days ago
8. A: Can you describe the woman you saw? What _______________________ ?
B: A red sweater and black jeans
9. A: I’m sorry to keep you waiting. _____________________________ long?
B: No, only about ten minutes
10. A: How long ______________________ to get from here to the airport?
B: Usually about 45 minutes. It depends on the traf c
11. A: ____________________________ this song before?
B: No, this is the rst time. I like it
12. A: _____________________________ to the United States?
B: No, never, but i went to Canada a few years ago

2. Put the verb in the most suitable form

1. Who ____________________ (invent) the bicycle

2. “Do you still have a headache?” “No, _______________ (it/go). I’m ok now.
3. I was the last to leave the of ce last night. Everybody else had gone home when I
______________ (leave)

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 4. What ____________________ (you/do) last weekend? _____________________ (you/

go) anywhere
5. I like you car. How long ____________________ (you/ have) it
6. It’s a shame the trip was cancelled. I __________________ (look) forward to it
7. Jane is an experienced teacher and loves her job. _______________________ (she/
teach) for 15 years
8. Emily _____________________ (buy) a new dress last week, but
__________________ (she/not/wear) it yet
9. A few days ago ______________ (I/meet) a man at a party whose face
_______________ (be) very familiar. At rst i couldn’t think where I had seen him
before. Then suddenly _________________ (i/remember) who ______________ (he/
be
10. ________________________ (you/hear) of Agatha Christie? ____________________
(she/be) a writer who __________________ (die) in 1976. _____________________
(she/write) more than 70 detective novels, but ___________________ (I/not/read) any
of them
11. A: What ____________________ (this/word/mean)?
B: I’ve no idea. __________________ (I/never/see) it before. Look it up in the
dictionary
12. A: ________________ (you/get) to the theatre in time for the play last night?
B: No, we were late. By the time we got there, it had already started
13. I went to Sarah’s room and _________________ (knock) on the door, but there
____________ (be) no answer. Either she had gone out or ______________________
(she/not/want) to see anyone
14. Dan asked me how to use the photocopier. He had never used it before, so
__________________ (he/not/know) what to do
15. Lisa ________________ (go) for a swim after work yesterday. She had needed some
exercise because she had been sitting in an of ce all day in front of a computer

3. Which is correct

1. Everything is going well. We didn’t have / haven’t had any problems so far
2. Lisa didnt’ go / hasn’t gone to work yesterday. She wasn’t feeling well
3. Look! That man over there wears / is wearing the same sweater as you
4. I went / have been to New Zealand last year
5. I didn’t hear / haven’t heard from jess recently. I hope she’s ok
6. I wonder why James is / is being so nice to me today. He isn’t usually like that
7. Jane had a book open in front of her, but she didn’t read / wasn’t reading it
8. I wasn’t very busy. I didn’t have / wasn’t having much to do
9. It begins / It’s beginning to get dark. Shall I turn on the light
10. After leaving school, Mark worked / has worked in a hotel for a while
11. When Sue heard the news, she wasn’t / hasn’t been very pleased
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 12. This is a nice hotel, isn’t it? Is this the rst time you stay / you’ve stayed here
13. I need a new job. I’m doing / I’ve been doing the same job for too long
14. “Anna has gone out.” “Oh, has she? What time did she go / has she gone?
15. “You look tired.” “Yes, i’ve played / I’ve been playing basketball.
16. Where are you coming / do you come from? Are you American
17. I’d like to see Tina again. It’s a long time since i saw her / that i didn’t see her
18. Robert and Maria have been married since 20 years / for 20 years

4. From “Conversations with friends” by Sally Rooney. Read and Translate:

Bobbi and I first met Melissa at a poetry night in town, where we were performing together.
Melissa took our photograph outside, with Bobbi smoking and me self-consciously holding
my left wrist in my right hand, as if I was afraid the wrist was going to get away from me.
Melissa used a big professional camera and kept lots of different lenses in a special camera
pouch. She chatted and smoked while taking the pictures. She talked about our performance
and we talked about her work, which we’d come across on the internet. Around midnight
the bar closed. It was starting to rain then, and Melissa told us we were welcome to come
back to her house for a drink.

We all got into the back of a taxi together and started fixing up our seat belts. Bobbi sat in
the middle, with her head turned to speak to Melissa, so I could see the back of her neck and
her little spoon-like ear. Melissa gave the driver an address in Monkstown and I turned to
look out the window. A voice came on the radio to say the words: eighties ... pop ... classics.
Then a jingle played. I felt excited, ready for the challenge of visiting a stranger’s home,
already preparing compliments and certain facial expressions to make myself seem
charming.

The house was a semi-detached red-brick, with a sycamore tree outside. Under the
streetlight the leaves looked orange and artificial. I was a big fan of seeing the insides of
other people’s houses, especially people who were slightly famous like Melissa. Right away
I decided to remember everything about her home, so I could describe it to our other friends
later and Bobbi could agree.

When Melissa let us in, a little red spaniel came racing up the hall and started barking at us.
The hallway was warm and the lights were on. Next to the door was a low table where
someone had left a stack of change, a hairbrush and an open tube of lipstick. There was a
Modigliani print hanging over the staircase, a nude woman reclining. I thought: this is a
whole house. A family could live here.

We have guests, Melissa called down the corridor.

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No one appeared so we followed her into the kitchen. I remember seeing a dark wooden
bowl filled with ripe fruit, and noticing the glass conservatory. Rich people, I thought. I was
always thinking about rich people then. The dog had followed us to the kitchen and was
snuffling around at our feet, but Melissa didn’t mention the dog so neither did we.

Wine? Melissa said. White or red?

She poured huge, bowl-sized glasses and we all sat around a low table. Melissa asked us
how we’d started out performing spoken word poetry together. We had both just finished
our third year of university at the time, but we’d been performing together since we were in
school. Exams were over by then. It was late May.

Melissa had her camera on the table and occasionally lifted it to take a photograph, laughing
self-deprecatingly about being a ‘work addict’. She lit a cigarette and tipped the ash into a
kitschy-looking glass ashtray. The house didn’t smell of smoke at all and I wondered if she
usually smoked in there or not.