Grammar Exercises (Mixed Tenses)

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 764.

1.Dear Abby,

My daughter (1) (to meet) a smooth-talking fellow nine months ago and really (2) (to fall) for him. She is 22 and he is 21. He (3) (not to work) at the moment and he even (4) (not to look) for a job. He (5) (to keep) saying that the jobs he wants (6) (not to pay) enough. In the meantime he (7) (to borrow) money from my daughter, (8) (to drive) her car, and (9) (to eat) every meal at my table, and his clothes (10) (to wash) in my machine! He never (11) (to mention) marriage, but my daughter (12) (to look) at him like he is a god, and she (13) (to call) him “love”.

What shall I do?

2. Once upon a time, according to a much-told story, a computer (1) (to set) the task of translating ‘traffic jam' into French and back into English. The machine (2) (to buzz), (3) (to blink) its lights, (4) (to click) and eventually (5) (to come up with) ‘car-flavored marmalade'. Machine translation (6) (to come) a long way since then. Computer translation systems (7) (to be) now in use in many parts of the world. Not surprisingly, the EU very (8) (to involve). With so many official languages, translating and interpreting (9) (to take up) more than 50 per cent of the Union's administrative budget. But although the efficiency of the machine translation (10) (to improve) rapidly, there is no question of human translators being made redundant. On the contrary, people and machines (11) (to work) in harmony. Today's computers (12) (to be) of little value in translating literary works, where subtlety is vital, or the spoken word, which tends to be ungrammatical, or important texts, where absolute accuracy is essential. But for routine technical reports, working papers and the like, which (13) (to take up) so much of the translation workload of international organizations, computers are likely to play an increasing part. The method of operation will probably be for the machine to make a rough version, which the translator then (14) (to edit), correcting obvious errors, and where necessary referring back to the original.

3. Accident prone Allen Davies is only five, but already his parents (1) (to convince) he's a walking disaster.

The youngster (2) (to crack) his head falling into an empty swimming pool, (3) (to chop) the end of his finger off with a penknife and (4) (to make) himself ill by drinking half a bottle of an antiseptic.

Each time another disaster (5) (to strike) Allen, he (6) (to take) to the children's hospital in Sydenham, where he (7) (to be) such a regular visitor that he (8) (to believe) that the nursing sister (9) (to be) a member of the family.

Now Allen's grateful father (10) (to raise) $6,500 for the hospital to buy a monitor to measure babies' breathing and temperature.

His wife Margaret said: “It all (11) (to start) when little Allen (12) (to be) a year old. He (13) (to fall over) and (14) (to cut) himself and he had to have stitches in his forehead. Since then he (15) (not to stop). He (16) (to take) to hospital at least ten times.

‘The latest accident (17) (to happen) when he (18) (to climb) on to a shelf and (19) (to manage) to open his father's penknife.

‘He (20) (to chop) the end of his finger off and had to have it sewn back on.'

Doctors at the hospital also had to stitch Allen's head when he (21) (to plunge) headlong into a pool.

Mr. Davies (22) (to raise) the cash with the help of celebrities including Richard Harris, who (23) (to donate) possessions to be auctioned at a charity disco.

A sister at the hospital said: ‘Everyone in the hospital (24) (to know) him for years. Whenever we (25) (to see) Allen coming in again, we all (26) (to shout) “What … you (27) (to do) this time?”

Allen's brothers also (28) (to have) their share of accidents and had to be taken to the Children's Hospital.

Robert,15, (29) (to tear) some ligaments on a skiing holiday and (30) (to slip) off his crutches, breaking his ankle a few days later. Lee,13, (31) (to injure) his neck doing a motorbike stunt.

4. Figures released today show that average earnings (1) (to go up) by 60% over the last twelve months. Official sources say that this is due to the government's successful economic policies, which (2) (to lead) to more efficient management and greater productivity. Industrial output (3) (to rise) by 43% during the last year, and exports (4) (to go up) by 52%. Inflation is down to approximately 3%.

According to police figures, about 5,000 people (5) (to take part) in yesterday's anti-government demonstration. In spite of police efforts to maintain order there (6) (to be) violence throughout the march. Stones (7) (to throw) at government buildings, and at least 200 people (8) (to hurt) in fighting which (9) (to break out) after speeches by opposition leaders.

News just (10) (to come out) of a plane crash at East Monk Airport. First reports say that two aircraft (11) (to involve) and that several people (12) (to kill), but no further details (13) (to be) available for the moment.

Unemployment figures (14) (to release) today. Last month there (15) (to be) about 3 mln. registered unemployed. That's 15% of the work force. This year the number (16) (to increase) by 200,000.