Fill in the blanks with the suitable tenses of the verbs in brackets.

a) Choose among Present Continuous, Simple Past, Present Perfect Continuous and Past
Perfect Continuous
My English is really getting better. I (try) ... to learn the language since 1985, but only
recently have I been able to make some real progress. By the time I started high school in
1988, I (study) ... the language for almost three years; however, I was only able to introduce
myself and utter a few memorized sentences. For a couple more years, I (struggle) ... through
grammar and vocabulary lessons, which made absolutely no difference. Nothing worked, so I
decided to study abroad.
I found an exchange program in England that sounded like the perfect answer. I
(stay) ... with a host family for one month. It was a huge disappointment! I (sit) ... there the
whole time staring at the host mother and father hoping that there would be some
breakthrough. Nothing.
When I returned, I mentioned to a friend that I (have) ... problems with the language
for years. He recommended that I spend a year in an English speaking country. I decided to go
abroad again. I (research) ... exchange programs for a couple of weeks and finally decided on
a school in the United States.
Well, it worked. I (live) ... and (study) ... in the U.S. for more than two years. I
(stay) ... here for at least another year before I return home. By then, I should be completely
fluent.
b) Choose among Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous and
Past Perfect Continuous
1. It is already 9:30 PM and I (wait) ... here for over an hour. If John does not get here
in the next five minutes, I am going to leave.
2. I was really angry at John yesterday. By the time he finally arrived, I (wait) ... for
over an hour. I almost left without him.
3. Did you hear that Ben was fired last month? He (work) ... for that import company
for more than ten years and he (work) ... in almost every department. Nobody knew the
company
like
he
did.
4. I (see) ... many pictures of the pyramids before I went to Egypt. Pictures of the monuments
are very misleading. The pyramids are actually quite small.
5. Sarah (climb) ... the Matterhorn, (sail) ... around the world, and (go) ... on safari in
Kenya. She is such an adventurous person.
6. Sarah (climb) ... the Matterhorn, (sail) ... around the world and (go) ... on safari in
Kenya by the time she turned twenty-five. She (experience) ... more by that age than most
people do in their entire lives.
7. When Melanie came into the office yesterday, her eyes were red and watery. I think
she (cry) ... .
COMPUTER TANTRUMS
A clever computer built at Imperial college, London, often suffers from
(bore)1...boredom.... The computer was built to find out about human
(communicate)2......................... The computer acquired a simple vocabulary in the same way
as babies do: through (babble)3......................... It is common (know)4........................ that
when babies babble, it is a
(prepare)5........................ for speech. when babies make sounds like real words, they
are encouraged to remember them. with (encourage)6........................ from their parents,

babies quickly build up their vocabulary. In the same way, the clever computer learnt to use
real words. For example, it learnt to identify a black cat. It was then shown a white cat to test
how good it was at (recognize)7......................... It refused to co operate because the
(solve)8........................ to the problem was too easy. At first this (refuse)9........................
puzzled scientists, but then they decided the computer was having a tantrum. It just sits
there and goes on strike, a (science)11........................ said. These clever computers must also
be taught good (behave)10........................ .
Give the nouns derived from verbs, adjectives or other nouns. Use these endings:
-age, -hood, -ation, -ion, -ful, -ence, -ency, -ness, -al, -(er)y, -ment, -ety, -ism, -ity, -ing
1. I decided this. It was my decision .
2. Don't be so anxious. Control your ... .
3. Ann's a socialist. She believes in ... .
4. We all want to be happy. We all seek ... .
5. We all agree. We're all in ... .
6. Who discovered this? Who made this ... ?
7. We'll all arrive. We'll be met on ... .
8. I was a child then. That was in my ... .
9. She is absent. Can you explain her ...
10. I'll post this. What's the ... ?
11. Try again. Have another ... .
12. Be more efficient. Improve your ... .
13. Don't be so curious. Control your ... .
14. Address this envelope. I'll give you the ... .
15. I refused their offer. My ... is final.
16. I warned you. I gave you enough ... .
17. Put it in your mouth. Take one ... .
18. Can you explain it? Is there an ... ?
19. They tried him. I was at the ... .
20. Don't argue. I don't want an ... .

Uncommon Courtesy
By Neena Samuel and Joseph K. Vetter from Reader's Digest
We keep hearing about the death of civility -- but it's alive and well in a place you'd least
expect.
A woman heads into a popular New York City coffee shop on a chilly winter morning. Just
ahead of her, a man drops a file full of documents. The woman pauses, and stoops to help
gather the papers. Six blocks away, a different man enters another shop, but not before
politely holding the door for the person behind him. A clerk at another busy store thanks a
customer whos just made a purchase. Enjoy, the young woman says, smiling widely. Have
a nice day. She sounds like she really means it. Whoa. Common courtesy on the mean streets
of a city known for its in-your-face style? Have New Yorkers suddenly gone soft?
In her international bestselling death-of-manners manifesto Talk to the Hand, author Lynne
Truss argues that common courtesies such as saying Excuse me are practically extinct.
There are certainly plenty who would agree with her. Consider that in one recent survey, 70
percent of U.S. adults said people are ruder now than they were 20 years ago.

Is it really true? Readers Digest decided to find out if courtesy truly is kaput. RD sent
reporters to major cities in 35 countries where the magazine is published from Auckland,
New Zealand, to Zagreb, Croatia. In the United States, that meant targeting New York, where
looking out for No. 1 the heck with the other guy has always been a basic survival skill.
The routine in New York was similar to the one followed elsewhere: Two reporters one
woman and one man fanned out across the city, homing in on neighborhoods where street
life and retail shops thrive. They performed three experiments: door tests (would anyone
hold one open for them?); document drops (who would help them retrieve a pile of
accidentally dropped papers?); and service tests (which salesclerks would thank them for
a purchase?). For consistency, the New York tests were conducted at Starbucks coffee shops,
by now almost as common in the Big Apple as streetlights. In all, 60 tests (20 of each type)
were done.
Along the way, the reporters encountered all types: men and women of different races, ages,
professions, and income levels. They met an aspiring actress, a high school student, a hedgefund analyst and two New York City police officers. And guess what? In the end, four out of
every five people they encountered passed RDs courtesy test making New York the most
courteous city in the world. Imagine that.
A for Effort
While 90 percent of New Yorkers passed the door test, only 55 percent aced the document
drop. Are people less likely to help others when doing so takes extra effort or time? Not
always, the reporters found. Take the pregnant woman who thought nothing of bending down
to help us with our papers. Or the Queens woman named Liz who precariously balanced two
coffees, her keys and her wallet on a takeout tray with one hand, while picking up papers off
the wet pavement with the other. Her reason for helping? I was there, she said matter-offactly.
Part of the Job
Nineteen of the 20 clerks who were subjected to service tests passed. Roger Benjamin, the
manager and coffee master at a Manhattan Starbucks, acknowledged that the chain trains its
employees to be courteous. And some baristas the RD reporters encountered went beyond
basic niceties. You have to feed off peoples vibes, said one clerk. You go out of your way
to show customers they did us a favor by coming here. At another store, a green-apron-clad
attendant said that while courtesy was part of his job, he sought respect in return: Its
contagious.
Overall, men were the most willing to help, especially when it came to document drops. In
those, men offered aid 63 percent of the time, compared to 47 percent among women. Of
course, men werent entirely democratic about whom theyd help. All of them held the door
for RDs female reporter, and were more than twice as likely to help her pick up fallen papers
than they were to help our male reporter. Ill hold the door for whoevers behind me, said
Pete Muller, 27, an account executive from Brooklyn. But Im definitely more conscious of
women! he added with a smile.
Mother Knows Best
By far, the most common reason people cited for being willing to go out of their way to help
others was their upbringing. Its the way I was raised, said one young woman who held a
door open despite struggling with her umbrella on a frigid, sleety day in Brooklyn.
Her sentiment was echoed by Christine DuBois, a 49-year-old sales manager from Bayside,
Queens. DuBois was headed to the gym when she stopped to retrieve a pile of scattered
papers. Its something thats taught to you when youre young, she said.
A few people, including Frederick Martin, 29, credited their mothers influence specifically.
My mom brought me up like that, Martin said. Its pure manners.
What Goes Around

Another reason people are quick to be courteous: You do what youd want other people to do
if it happened to you, said Christine Rossi, who pitched in on an early-morning document
drop. Dennis Kleinman, a 57-year-old doctor and writer, used one word to sum up what drove
his impulse to help: Empathy. He came to the aid of an RD reporter when a middle-aged
woman ignored a pile of papers in front of a shop on Manhattans East Side. The same thing
happens to me, and I appreciate it when someone takes 10 to 15 seconds of their valuable time
to help, he said.
Excuses, Excuses
The reporters did run into a few courtesy clods. In one case, while an RD staffer was inside a
Starbucks interviewing a woman whod passed the door test, a dozen oblivious people
stepped over a second staffers fallen papers. Another time, a wise guy offered only a snarky
comment on our clumsiness: That guy had too much coffee! he cracked.
And just when we thought wed heard every excuse in the book for not helping, along came
Margot Zimmerman. The 44-year-old computer saleswoman was on her way into a Queens
Starbucks when a reporter dropped his folder of papers right at her feet. Looking down,
Zimmerman stepped gingerly around the papers, then entered the shop. Im probably one of
the most courteous people, she insisted later. I pick up every other persons dog poop. I help
old ladies across the street. But when he dropped his papers, he made such a face.
Thankfully, such responses were the exception, not the rule. Which makes New York City a
pretty darn polite place the most polite major city in the entire world, in case you missed it
before. We realize this isnt a rigorous scientific study, but we believe it is a reasonable realworld test of good manners around the globe. And its comforting to know that in a place
where millions of people jostle one another each day in a relentless push to get ahead, theyre
able to do it with a smile and a thank-you. Hey, if they can make nice here, they can make
nice anywhere.