UNIT 2: LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Past simple or present perfect?

1 Read the extract from the blog (online diary) of someone who has taken six months’
leave from work to travel around Central and South America. Fill in the gaps using
the past simple or present perfect form of the verb given in brackets and any other
given words. Do Exercise 2 before checking your answers.
It is Saturday and finally I have arrived 1 honestly say that I ___________13 (never /
(arrive) in Arequipa in the south-west see) anything so amazing in my life.
corner of Peru after setting off from Quito
ten days ago. I __________2 (not / write) In the middle of the desert, there are huge
anything on my blog since last week and I designs and drawings of shapes and
_____________3 (already / fill up) the animals that can only be seen from the air.
memory stick on my new digital camera. I I __________ 14 (join) a group of five people
_____________4 (do) so much this week, from my hotel. We __________15 (take off)
it _____________5 (be) truly incredible. in a small plane and ___________16 (circle)
the Nazca lines. The pilot ________17 (tilt)
I ____________6 (cross) the border with the plane to the side so we could look
Ecuador at Tumbes and ____________7 straight down at the designs below. I
(look around) for a bit before taking a ___________18 (even / manage) to take
plane straight to Lima. When I some photos so click the link to have a look
____________8 (get to) Lima, I at my photo album! I must finish uploading
____________9 (take) a bus to the centre all my photos soon because I
and then a taxi to the hostel that I had ___________19 (not / do) them all yet and I
booked. I ___________10 (only / stop off) need the space on my camera. There
in Lima for a day and then _________11 ____________20 (be) too many distractions
(jump) on a bus straight down to Pisco this week! With all this going on, I mustn’t
and then Nazca. I ____________12 forget that I am going on to Cuzco early
(always / have) a lifelong ambition to see tomorrow morning by train.
the Nazca lines in the desert. I can

2 Before you check your answers, try to put the number of each gap in the text into
the table below. This will help you to think about the meaning of each sentence as
well as the form of the verb.

Past simple for finished
actions in the past (often
when describing a
sequence of events or with
a specific date/time)
Present perfect for finished Present perfect for general
actions in a time period that life experience with no
continues up to now specific time given
1

Phrasal verbs
3 Find the phrasal verbs in the text that have the following meanings:
1 leave set off
2 finish something (leaving no more space)
3 explore
4 arrive in
5 stay somewhere briefly / for a short time
6 leave the ground and go up into the sky

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education