Exercise 5:  What have they been doing?

Complete the sentences with the present perfect simple or the present perfect continuous.

Jane has been writing (write) a letter to a magazine. She hasn't finished it yet.

1. Ben _____________________(look) for his pen-knife, but he hasn't found it yet.

2. Jenny ___________________ (wait) for the bus for half an hour, but it hasn't arrived yet.

3. Nick _________________ (play) a computer game for two hours and he's still playing.

4. Mike hasn't finished painting his car yet. He __________________ (work) on it for two weeks.

5. Amanda _________________(not come) home yet. She has been shopping in town since 10 o'clock.

6. Mike's car ________________(make) strange noises. Nick and Jane have cleaned all the parts.

7. Ben has been drawing cartoons for two hours. He _________________ (not finished) yet.

8. Amanda has been waiting for Jenny in town. Jenny _________________ (not arrive) yet.

9. Jane has been knitting a pullover. She ______________________ (just finish) it.

10. It ___________________ (rain) all day and it hasn't stopped yet.

11. Mr Blake has been marking tests all evening but he ______________ (not find) a perfect one yet.

12. Trig ____________________(practise) the present perfect, but he hasn't got it right.

 

Think of a job or activity that you have started but have not finished, for example, something that you are making, reading or drawing. Write a short paragraph about it. Say how long you have been doing it.

 

GRAMMAR WITH LAUGHTER Present Perfect / Past Simple

Using the Present Perfect or the Past Simple, complete the following jokes:

1. …. ................. you .................................. (be) to America before?

No. This is my first time.

Did you know that Christopher Columbus .................................................. (find) America?

Really? I never knew it was lost!

2. When you ........................... (sell) me this car this morning, you .............................. (say) it was trouble-free. Since then, the brakes ........................ (fail) and the door ................... (fall) off.

Well, sir, I did sell you the car but the trouble was free!

3. Doctor, I ............................... (have) a sore stomach ever since I ......................... (eat) three crabs last week.

……………....... they .................................. (smell) bad when you ............................ (take) them out of their shells?

What do you mean - took them out of their shells?

4. Now, ......................... everyone ......................... (read) the chapter on Lord Nelson for homework?

Yes, sir.

  Kevin,. in which battle ................................ Lord Nelson ..................................... (die)?

  Er, his last one, sir?

5. I ............................... (buy) this diamond ring from a man in the street. It's for my girlfriend.

Are they real diamonds?

  I hope so. If not, the man ................................... just.......................... (cheat) me out of £5.

6. How's your sister?

  She .......................................... (go) on a very strict diet to lose weight.

And how is she getting on?

Fine. She .................................................................. (disappear) last week.

7. Mrs Smith is very upset. She thinks she .............................. (lose) her cat.

When ................................... she last............................. (see) it?

Four days ago.

Why doesn't she put an advertisement in the newspaper?

  Don't be silly. Her cat can't read.

8. My dad ....................... never ................................ (visit) the dentist.

My dad will never go back to the dentist.

Why? What happened?

  The dentist.................................................... (take) all his teeth out.

  What........................... your dad ......................... (say)?

  Never again! Never again!

9. Robert was fishing in a private lake. An old man came up to him and asked:

……….......... you ………………………........ (catch) anything?

Yes. Three big fish since I ........................................... (start) this morning.

  My name is Lord Arton and I own this lake. Oh. My name is Robert and I'm a terrible    

  liar!

 

 

Past Perfect

 

A beggar stopped me the other day and said he hadn’t had a bite for days.

What did you do?

I bit him!

	Peter had a very large garden and he had been digging it for about five hours when Mrs. Burns came along. Oh, hello, Peter. What are you growing? The sweat was running down Peter’s face. He looked up and said, “Tired!”

PAST PERFECT

 

a. My parents had already eaten by the time I got home. b. Until yesterday, I had never heard about it. c. The thief simply walked in. Someone had forgot­ten to lock the door. d. He had arrived before we got there. e. He arrived before we got there. f. After the guests had left, I went to bed. g. After the guests left, I went to bed.

The past perfect expresses an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past.   If either before or after is used in the sentence, the past perfect is not necessary because the time relationship is already clear. The simple past may be used instead of the past perfect, as in (e) and (g).

 

 

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

 

	h. The police had been look­ing for the criminal for two years before they caught him. i. The patient had been waiting in the emergency room for almost an hour before a doctor finally treated her. j. He finally came at six o'clock. I had been wait­ing for him since four-thirty. k. Her skin was sunburned because she had been lying on the beach all afternoon.	The past perfect progressive emphasizes the duration of an activity that was in progress before another activity or time in the past.
	l. When Judy got home, her hair was still wet because she had been swimming. m. Her eyes were red because she had been crying.	This tense also may express an activity in progress recent to another time or activity in the past.

 

 

Exercise 1: Use Simple Past or the Past Perfect

Are there some sentences where either tense is possible?

 

1) He (be) _____________________________________ a newspaper reporter before he (become) _______________________a business man.

2) I (feel) ________________________ a little better after I (take) __________ the medicine.

3) I was late. The teacher (give, already) _______________________a quiz when I (get) ____________ to class.

4) The anthropologist (leave) ______________________the village when she (collect) _________________ enough data.

5) It was raining hard, but by the time class (be) _________________over, the rain (stop) ____________________.

6) Millions of years ago, dinosaurs (roam) _______________________ the earth, but they (become) __________________extinct by the time humankind first (appear) ______________________.

7) Class (begin, already) _______________ by the time I (get) _______________ there, so I (take, quietly) ___________________ a seat in the back.

8) I (see, never) _________________________any of Picasso's paintings before I (visit) _______________ the art museum.

9) I almost missed my plane. All of the other passengers (board, already) ________________ by the time I (get) _______________________ there.

10) Yesterday at a restaurant, I (see) _____________________ Pam Donnelly, an old friend of mine. I (see, not) ___________________________her in years. At first, I (recognize, not) _______________________her because she (lose) ________________at least fifty pounds.

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