Seminar 5 – Present and Past Tenses: revision1. Cumulative Verb Tense Review; Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb in brackets:1. You look really great! (You, exercise) at the fitness center? 2. A: What (you, do) when the accident occurred? B: I (try) to change a light bulb that had burnt out. 3. I (have) the same car for more than ten years. I'm thinking about buying a new one. 4. If it (snow) this weekend, we (go) skiing near Lake Tahoe. 5. A: What do you call people who work in libraries? B: They (call) librarians. 6. I came to England six months ago. I started my economics course three months ago. When I return to Australia, I (study) for nine months and I (be) in England for exactly one year. 7. Sam (arrive) in San Diego a week ago. 8. Samantha (live) in Berlin for more than two years. In fact, she (live) there when the Berlin wall came down. 9. If Vera (keep) drinking, she (lose, eventually) her job. 10. The Maya established a very advanced civilization in the jungles of the Yucatan; however, their culture (disappear, virtually) by the time Europeans first (arrive) in the New World. 11. Shhhhh! Be quiet! John (sleep) . 12. It (rain) all week. I hope it stops by Saturday because I want to go to the beach. 13. Listen Donna, I don't care if you (miss) the bus this morning. You (be) late to work too many times. You are fired! 14. I have not traveled much yet; however, I (visit) the Grand Canyon and San Francisco by the time I leave the United States. 15. 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. 16. In the last hundred years, traveling (become) much easier and very comfortable. In the 19th century, it (take) two or three months to cross North America by covered wagon. The trip (be) very rough and often dangerous. Things (change) a great deal in the last hundred and fifty years. Now you can fly from New York to Los Angeles in a matter of hours. 19. Joseph's English (improve, really), isn't it? He (watch) American television programs and (study) his grammar every day since he first arrived in San Diego. Soon he will be totally fluent. 20. When I (arrive) home last night, I discovered that Jane (prepare) a beautiful candle-lit dinner. 2. Cumulative Verb Tense Review; Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb in brackets:a) Julie ………… (walk) for hours when she suddenly noticed that the sun …………(sink) in the sky. She ………… (lose) track of time because she ………… (think) about the most important decision she'd ever had to make in her life. Things ………. (not be) the same between Julie and her fiance, David, since he accepted a job in Paris. They ………… (know) each other for almost five years, and in that time, they had never argued much. Lately, though, their relationship ……. (become) stormy. They ………… (seem) to be finding fault with each other and disagreeing about everything. For the first time, she ……….. (start) to wonder if she …………. (be) ready for marriage. And with the wedding only twenty days away, she …………… (need) to make up her mind soon. Everything in Julie's life …………… (go) well until her world fell apart just a month before. A large company ………. (offer) David an important position that would require him to move to France. As his wife, Julie would have to go, too. Why hadn't he discussed his decision with her? Although Julie ………….(always want) to live abroad she felt very confused. Was she ready to move halfway across the world, leaving behind her friends and family and the only home she had ever known? If the answer was no, ……….. (she be) ready to say goodbye to the only man she ……. (ever love)?b) I come from a very large family, and recently my parents …… (decide) that they …… (spend) long enough living in an overcrowded house in Birmingham. 'We ……. (move) to the country', my

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father …… (announce) one evening. 'I …….. (sell) this house, and we ……… (live) on a farm.' So last week we ….. (load) all our possessions into two hired vans, and for the last few days we …… (try) to organize ourselves in our new home. Yesterday, for example, my three brothers and I …….. (start) painting the downstairs rooms. Unfortunately while I ………. (mix) the paint, one of my sisters ……… (open) the door. Nobody …… (tell) her that we ……. (be) in the room, you see. So instead of painting the walls, we …….. (spend) all morning cleaning the paint off the floor. But worse things ……. (happen) since then. This morning when I …… (wake up), water ……. (drip) through the ceiling next to my bed. We ……. (spend) today so far repairing the roof. It's not all bad news, though. The school in the village nearby ……. (close down) two years ago, and my parents ………. (not find) another school for us yet.c) One evening, while we ………. (sit) in the living room with David, Delia ….. (ask) me to fetch her glasses from a shelf in her upstairs study, and when I ………. (enter) the room I ….. (see) her journal lying open oil her desk. Delia …….. (keep) a journal since the age of thirteen or fourteen, and by now it …… (run) to dozens of volumes, notebook after notebook filled with the ongoing saga of her inner life. She ………. (often / read) passages from it to me, but until that evening I …….. (never / have) so much as dared to look at it without her permission. Standing there at that moment, however, I …… (find) myself gripped by a tremendous urge to read those pages. In retrospect, I understand that this meant our life together was already finished, that my willingness to break this trust proved that I ……. (give up) any hope for our marriage, but I ……. (be not aware) of it then. At the time, the only thing I felt was curiosity. The pages were open on the desk, and Delia ………… (just / ask) me to go into the room for her. She must have understood that I would notice them. Assuming that was true, it was almost as if she were inviting me to read what she ………. (write).3. Find the mistake and correct it:a) My neighbour makes enough noise to rise the dead.b) All day I had been feeling nervous but the feeling had vanished as soon as I saw her.c) Since we’ve known each other, he has always shown impeccable manners.d) It’s the third time he missed an appointment.e) He says he hasn’t yet come to a final decision.f) I think I get more forgetful as I grow older.g) I took the decision after I spoke to my brother-in-law.h) I went to see him because his wife asked me to.i) He says he hasn’t yet come to a final decision.j) Ever since I’ve first heard it I’ve been trying to find a recording of that song.k) Princess Diana was the most extraordinary person I had ever read about.l) It’s almost a year since I’ve stopped smoking.4. Finish each of the sentences in such a way that it is as similar in meaning as possible to the sentence printed before it:a) Make sure you finish this book before you start on the others.Don’t start …………………b) Nobody has seen John for over a month.John was …………………..c) It’s almost a year since I stopped smoking.I gave ……………………..d) This café used to be a lot more popular before they opened the new one next door.Since ……………………..e) No one has asked me that before.This is the first time ………………f) I have been working on this project for a month.It’s over …………………………..j) We haven’t had snow in this part of the country for more than a year.It’s over ………………………….

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Here are some other words/expression which refer to success or failure:back to square one To say that someone is back to square one, means that they have not

succeeded in what they were trying to do, and so they have to start again. "When the plans were refused, it was back to square one for the architect."

in the bag If you think something is in the bag, you are almost certain it will be achieved.

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"An hour before the polling stations closed, victory seemed in the bag for the Conservative candidate."

fighting a losing battle If someone is fighting a losing battle, they are trying to do something even when there is little chance of succeeding."The headmaster is fighting a losing battle trying to ban mobile phones at school."

it will never fly To say that something will never fly means that it will not be successful."He's got incredible ideas, but none that will ever fly!"

a fool’s errand If you go on a fool's errand, you try to do something which is useless, unnecessary or has no chance of success."I realized it was a fool's errand to look for a bank in such an isolated region."

go to the dogs To say that a company, organization or country is going to the dogs means that it is becoming less successful or efficient than before."Some think the company will go to the dogs if it is nationalized."

by hook or by crook If you say that you will do something by hook or by crook, you  mean that you will succeed in doing it in whatever way is necessary, whether it is honest or not."I'll get my revenge, by hook or by crook!"

make a go of something When you make a go of something, you succeed in your enterprise or produce good results."He opened a restaurant and worked hard to make a go of it."

miss the boat If you miss the boat, you fail to take advantage of an opportunity because you don't act quickly enough."I managed to get my order through before the end of the special offer – but I nearly missed the boat!"  

pack something in If you pack something in, you abandon it or give it up."She found city life so stressful, she decided to pack it in and move to  the country."

rise to the occasion If you rise to the occasion, you manage to do something successfully in difficult circumstances."When her boss broke his leg, Julie had to represent the company at the congress, and she rose to the occasion extremely well."

throw a spanner (wrench) into the works

This expression means to prevent the success of a plan or event, by causing problems."The two companies wanted to sign the agreement before anything   happened to throw a spanner in the works."

Fill in the gaps with the expressions above:1. The price discount ended yesterday and I’ve just……….. on a great deal.2. She didn’t care about the means she would apply. She was determined to finish the project,

…………. .3. We don't have to worry about their idea competing with ours. It ……… .4. Even though it was a big challenge for him, John was able to ………. and make the

conference a success.5. Just when things appear to be moving in the right direction, some official from India jumps

up to ………. and denies the Pakistani minister’s offer.6. Some people think that any government that tries to stop people from taking illegal drugs is

………….. .7. He was a marvelous actor, but his drinking problems caused his career to …………. .8. Our restaurant isn't doing too well, so we might have to ………. and try another type of

business instead.

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9. Off the records, President Bush believes that the American undertaking in Afghanistan was a complete waste of time, ………. .

10. In 1998, when I went into business, I opened a small store selling groceries in the outskirts of the city and ………… by offering free coupons and small discounts.

11. Negotiations between the management and the representatives of the union have broken down, so ………… .

12. After he was informed of the exit polls results, the candidate of the Conservative party thought the victory was ……… .

Idioms for special subjects:

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