USE OF ENGLISH

Choose the correct tense to fill in the blanks.

Growing up as a British Asian

I 1.___________ in Blackburn, in the northwestern part of England and I 2. ___________ there until
I 3. ___________ home at the age of 18. My parents 4. ___________ to England from India in the
1970s.

As a child I 5. ___________ to the local school and, of course, 6. ___________ English with a local
accent, just like all the other children. But at home it was very different. We 7. ___________ in an
Indian environment, with a great extended family of uncles and aunts. I 8. ___________ feeling
part of this big thing called "family", and an even bigger thing called "India”. I think my family
really 9. ___________ me a lot while I 10. ___________ up. They often talked about India as "our
home" - even though I 11. ___________ been there before.

To me, it 12. ___________ at all strange to grow up as part of two cultures. I 13.
___________ that
growing up in two cultures is a kind of gift, not a disadvantage.

If you 14. ___________ up as part of two cultures, you 15. ___________ yourself with a lot of
different people and traditions. Besides, you never think that one culture is 16. ___________ than
the other. On the contrary, you become 17. ___________ than your friends, for example. The
18.
___________ thing is that you feel part of a 19. ___________ group of people.

Now that I 20. ___________ a child of my own, I want her to get in touch with her Indian roots too,
so we 21. ___________ a visit to India later this year. All her Indian cousins and relatives
22.
___________ forward to meeting her.
1. am born was born had been born
2. have lived had lived am living
3. was leaving left have left
4. were moving have moved had moved
5. went have gone am going
6. spoke had spoken was speaking
7. had lived lived have lived
8. have remembered am remembering remember
9. had influenced was influencing influenced
10. was growing grew have grown
11. had never have never been never was
12. isn’t seeming doesn’t seem didn’t seem
13. always think am always thinking have always thought
14. are grow grow grew
15. probably identify is probably identify will probably identify
16. bad worse worst
17. more open-minded most open-minded the more open-minded
18. more important most important the important
19. more big bigger most big
20. have am having have had
21. had planned were planning are planning
22. are looking look have looked