Exercises: Tense

I. Identify the tense of the underlined verbs in the following sentences: Examples:
They buried it.

Simple past Past perfect

We had abandoned the ship. 1. Paolo completed his masterpiece. 2. She has earned the promotion. 3. They are working on the case. 4. She was laughing politely. 5. He had succeeded at roulette. 6. You have been trying. 7. He tried a cigarette. 8. We had lost the jade ring. 9. I am counting. 10. It will continue. 11. She left her briefcase behind. 12. He has been shaking. 13. They were swimming. 14. They take samples. 15. You have mastered it. 16. We have owned one since June. 17. I was digging. 18. You are joking. 19. I have been moonlighting. 20. She interests him. 21. I have eaten barbecued pork. 22. She has tried it. 23. He had argued with them.

II. Identify the tense of the underlined verbs in the following sentences and summarize the information about time that they are conveying. Examples: John will marry her Tense: future Time: the event will take time in the future. Secretariat won the race. Joe had bet wisely. Tense: past perfect Time: Joes bet occurred prior to the winning of the race. 1. My life flashed before my eyes as the airplane was falling. Tense: Time: 2. Bill and Margaret have been taking tightrope walking lessons. Tense: Time: 3. Ancient man invented the wheel. Tense: Time: 4. Alex is making too much noise. Tense: Time: 5. The evidence had vanished. Mark was furious. Tense: Time: 6. Mr. Platt designs submarines. Tense: Time: 7. Sam has been a devil since childhood. Tense: Time: 8. Marie has read all of Shakespeares works. Tense: Time: