Wednesday, July 15, 2015

July 15, 2015 - Past Tenses review, Book Exercises, Introduction to Modals (will, should, may, might and can/could)


Simple Past
Sentence             I ate chocolate yesterday.
Structure             Subject and verb (past tense)
Rule:                     A completed action at a specified time in the past.










Past Continuous
Sentence             I was eating chocolate when they arrived.
Structure             Subject/past form of verb to be/verb-ing
Rule:                     Action in progress in the past either a) when a shorter action took place,
                              or b) at a very precise moment.







Past Perfect
Sentence             I had eaten chocolate before I left for work.
Structure             Subject/had/past participle
Rule:                     Action that was completed in the past either a) before another action took  
place,
                              or b) before a very precise moment.






















Past Perfect Continuous
Sentence             I had been eating chocolate for a while when they arrived.
Structure             Subject/had/been/verb-ing
Rule:                     Action that had started, continued for some time, and was still in progress
in the past
                              either a) before another action, or b) before a very precise moment.





Exercises
Choose the correct verbs so that each tense appears once.
Simple past, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous
1.     We went to the cinema last week.
2.     A bird pooed on the window that I had cleaned only a minute before.
3.     Yesterday at nine he was sitting in front of his computer……when his wife arrived.
4.     When their mum got home, the boys had been watching TV for two hours.
Complete the sentences for situations in the past. Decide which tense you need to use.
1.     A plumber came to our house yesterday.
2.     He wanted to repair our washing machine that had broken a few days before.
3.     Before he rang at my door, he had been looking for a parking space for about ten minutes.
4.     While the plumber was repairing the washing machine, I was watching the news.
5.     Suddenly, I realised that they were showing our street on TV.
6.     The reporter said that a car had crashed into a stop sign just before reaching the crossroads.
7.     While I was listening carefully to what had happened, someone knocked at my door.
8.     opened the door and saw a police officer standing there.
9.     He asked for the plumber.
10. As it turned out, it was our plumber’s car that had rolled down the street.
11. In his haste, the plumber had forgotten to put the handbrake on.
Book – groups
p. 110 (Ex. 6) – Past Perfect Tense
1. The captain of the Titanic had made a serious mistake when he didn’t listen to the warnings.
2. When the Titanic disaster occurred, how much experience had the captain had?
3. I didn’t realize that airplanes had been invented by (passive) by the time of the Titanic.
4. In 1912, Word War I had not yet begun.
5. The story about the Titanic was new to me because I had never read an article about it before.
6. Had you already heard this story before we read about it in class?
7. How many lifeboats had the Titanic originally had?
8. Why had they been removed (passive)?

p. 113 (Ex. 9) – Use either simple past or past perfect
1. When an American astronaut stepped on the moon in 1969, no person had ever walked on the moon before. 
2. By 2003, NASA had completed hundreds of successful space flights.
3. When the Columbia mission took off in 2003, NASA had had only two serious accidents in its space program.
4. By the time the 16 days were up, the Columbia crew had done all its scientific experiments.
5. Until 9 a.m. on February 1, 2003, NASA had had good communication with the Columbia.
6. At first, NASA couldn’t understand what had happened.
7. When they lost communication with the Columbia, they were afraid that all of the astronauts had died.
8. The original date for the Columbia mission was July 2002.  The date was postponed until 2003 because cracks in the fuel line were found. 
9. NASA knew that the Columbia had lost a piece of its wing on liftoff, but they didn’t think it would be a problem.
10. They didn’t realize that this problem had created a hole in the wing.
11. By the time the investigation ended in April 2003, NASA had collected 40 percent of the pieces of the Columbia.
12. By the time the U.S. sent a mission to Mars, the reasons for the Columbia’s accident had been discovered.

p. 118 (Ex. 12)
1. The fire had been burning for two days by the time firefighters put it out.
2. We had been living in the same house for 30 years when the fires started.
3. A hunter had been trying to send a signal.
4. The families of the astronauts had been waiting for several hours when they heard the news.
5. The Titanic had been travelling for five days when it sank.

p. 119 (Ex. 13)
1. I had been waiting for two years when I got a chance to leave my country.
2. I had been living in the same house all my life when I left my city.
3. I felt very sad when I left my job because I had worked with the same people for ten years.
4. I had been studying to be a nurse for six months when a war broke out in my country.
5. When I left my country, a war had been going on for three years.
6. My family had been waiting in Germany for three months before we got permission to come to the U.S. 
7. By the time I got to the U.S., I had been travelling for four days.
Check







Past Perfect Continuous v. Present Perfect Continuous


Past Perfect Continuous – used when we look back from a past time to a prior continuous action.
Sentence             I had been eating chocolate for a while when they arrived.
Structure             Subject/had/been/verb-ing
Rule:                     Action that had started, continued for some time, and was still in progress in the past
                              either a) before another action, or b) before a very precise moment.



Present Perfect Continuous – used when we look back from the present time to a continuous action.
Sentence             I have been eating chocolate (for a long time today).
Structure             Subject/have or has/been/verb-ing
Rule:                     An action that has already started and is still going on.




p. 122

A:  I’m really interested in space exploration.
B:  How long have you been interested in it?
A:  Ever since I was a child.  By the time I was 10 years old, I had been to the space museum in Washington, D.C. about five times.
B:  Who took you?
A:  My parents took me most of the time.  But one time my fifth grade class had been studying all semester about space, and our teacher took the class. Since that time I have always dreamt about becoming an astronaut.  I saw a film about the first moon landing in 1969.  It was so exciting to think that no man had ever walked on the moon before.
B:  Do you think it’s possible for you to become an astronaut?
A:  Sure.  Why not?  I have already gotten my bachelor’s degree in engineering.  Lately I have been reading a lot about the training that astronauts go through.  I have already written to NASA asking them to send me more information on how to get into the space program.  And next semester I’m going to enter a master’s program in physics.
B: Don’t you have to be a pilot first?
A: Yes.  I have already taken 500 hours of flying lessons.
B:  Aren’t you worried about the risks of going into space?  NASA has had several disasters so far. 
A:  Of course there are risks.  But the space program needs to continue.  By the time of the Columbia disaster, it had already had 27 successful missions.  And in general, there have been more successes than failures up to now.  Since the Columbia tragedy, NASA has been studying to improve the safety of its astronauts.

Intro Lesson 4 – Modals

Will                       100% probability – I will go to work.
Should                    75% probability - I should go to work.
May                        50% probability – I may go to work.
Might                      25% probability – I might go to work.

Will, should, may, and might – video link below



Can -                     Possibility –         Ex.  You can go home.
                              Ability –                Ex.  I can swim.
                              Permission –       Ex.  Can I stop doing my homework now?
                             
Could -                  Past tense of “can”
                              Also, more polite to use when asking a question.
                              Example:  Could I borrow your car?  Vs. Can I borrow your car?
                              Something that was possible in the past – Ex. You could have come to me
                              yesterday.          
                              Something that you were able to do in the past - Ex.  I could talk when I was 3
                               years old.           

                             
Can/Could – video link below

can/could/may/might worksheet



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