TENSES

Fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of the verbs given in brackets:

I I suppose that is how I should have treated Mary Porteous from the start, but in those
days I _______________ (feel) ashamed for her as well as for myself, if I ______________
(employ) such crude tactics. And so, instead of lashing out with flattery when cornered, I
____________ (allow) my feelings to show, in one way or another, and by the time I
_____________ (learn) the defensive uses of flattery it was too late to heal the breach made
by my initial frankness, although not too late to spread a smear of false goodwill over my
relations with her. Coarse fighting _________________ (modal + be) healthier, but I doubt if
I _________________ (modal + keep) it up for all the time I _____________ (live) in her
house.

II In the hotel dining room Rosa and Andrew faced each other across a desert of white
linen and gleaming cutlery. They were continuing a discussion which _____________ (begin)
in the train and ____________ (go on) intermittently ever since they _____________ (arrive)
at the hotel an hour ago. The excitement of going away ______________ (prevent) either of
them from eating any breakfast and, in consequence neither was in the best of tempers.
Andrew quite frankly did not want to do any more talking till he _______________ (have) his
lunch. He was used to a good meal in the middle of the day and he _____________ (hope) he
was going to get it.

III I ____________ (pick up) my briefcase and _________ (run) out of the hotel. The car
___________ (wait) for me outside. The chauffeur _____________ (read) a newspaper. I
_____________ (get in) and _____________ (sit down). I ___________ (fling) the case into
the seat beside me. As we _______________ (speed) towards the airport, I _____________
(check) the contents: I ______________ (remember) ______________ (pack) everything,
including my favourite Mauser. I ____________ (take) it out of the case and ___________
(oil) it carefully. It ___________ (be) now six years since I ______________ (buy) it from a
fellow agent in Saigon.
IV Fill in the blanks with the following verbs. Use each only once in the past tense:
TREAD, SNAP, SNATCH, SEEK, RISE, ROUSE.

1 The television mast _________ above the houses.

2 The thief __________ my bag and ran off.
3 The dog ________ at the stranger.
4 He __________ out a suitable assistant.

V Make sentences out of the following elements in either the simple past tense or the
present perfect tense. Add articles and prepositions as required but do not change the word
order:

1 She/ cling/ edge/ cliff/ her fingers.

2 Josephine/ lie/ all afternoon/ long/ grass.

3 Lumberjack/ saw/ biggest tree trunk/ pieces.

4 Grandmother/ hide/ money/ somewhere/ and then/ forget/ where/ hide/ it.

5 He/ bear/ all these responibilities/ till last year/ then feel/ he/ bear/ them/ long enough/ and
resign.

VI Complete the following sentences with appropriate forms of the given verbs:

1 You should have (ride) _________ the same horse you ________ yesterday.
2 They said the shirt would SHRINK, but it hasn’t ________ yet. However, my sweater
________ when I washed it.
3 They said it would SPIN, but it hasn’t _______ yet.
4 You should have (slide) _______ it the same you ______ it yesterday. It would not have
(stick) _______ the way it did.
5 They said it would TEAR, but it hasn’t ________ yet.