English - Close test 2


Past Simple or Continuous?

Last week I    (decide) to invite some friends over for dinner. I     (buy) lots of delicious food, including some Parma ham. At about 6:00 I   (cook) in the kitchen. The sun     (shine) and it     (be) a beautiful evening , so I    (open) the back door. Then the telephone    (ring). I     (go) to answer it and when I     (come) back the ham     (not be) on the table. I     (look) out of the window. A cat     (sit) on my garden wall and it     (eat) my ham. What     (can) I do? I     (fill) a pan with water and    (go) quietly outside. The cat     (not look) in my direction, and it   (enjoy) the ham so much That it     (not hear) me. I     (walk) slowly up to it - I     (want) To empty the water over its head. A bit cruel, I know, but the ham    (be) very expensive! But at the last moment the cat    (hear) me,     (jump) over the wall, and     (escape).


Present Perfect or Past Simple?

Interviewer: Today I'm talking to Tony Crooks, the British film director. Tell me, Tony, how long     (be) a film director?
Tony: Well, I    (study) film-making at university in the 1970s, and I    (work) as a director for over 20 years now.
Interviewer: What    (be) the first film you (make)?
Tony: A Prisoner's Life in 1978, but I     (lose) the only copy a year later so nobody     (see) it since then! My first successful film     (be) Always, which (come out) in 1982.
Interviewer: And how many countries     (visit)?     (make) films Outside Britain?
Tony: I      (not work) in many countries - only in Britain, Germany and Italy. Last month I     (fly) to Berlin and     (spend) two weeks filming there.
Interviewer: When     (go) to Italy?
Tony: In 1995. I    (want) to make a TV documentary, called North and South, and I     (drive) all the way from the Alps to Sicily.


Verb patterns
Choose the correct form

1. She refused - pay to pay paying for the meal.
2. My boss let me - go to go going home early.
3. Your writing is impossible - read to read reading .
4. I'll never forget - meet to meet meeting him for the first time.
5. He always makes me - laugh to laugh laughing .
6. I managed - give up to give up giving up smoking.


Present Perfect Simple and Continuous
In the following pair of sentences, one verb form is right and one is wrong. Mark the wrong one.

How long have you been writing that letter?
How long have you written that letter?

I'm exhausted! I've played tennis for hours
I'm exhausted! I've been playing tennis for hours.

Have you ever flown to Scotland?
Have you ever been flying to Scotland?

Oh no! I've lost my car keys!
Oh no! I've been loosing my car keys!

Has the film been starting?
Has the film started?

I've broken my leg.
I've been breaking my leg.

Past Simple or Past Perfect

I went to a school reunion last week. I     (be) very surprised - so many things    (change). They     (knock down) the old gymnasium, and the library    (disappear). I     (walk) Slowly round the school. Everything    (seem) much smaller, although they     (build) Some impressive new buildings. I     (meet) lots of my old schools friends, too, and they     (not stay) the same either. Some of them    (move) to London, and the most of them     (get) married. I     (talk) to the headmaster for a while - he    (not leave) . He    (say) That he     (remember ) every boy who     (attend) the school since he    (start) working there in 1978. But when I     (ask) him what my name was, he     (have to) confess, that he     (forget) - that    (make) me realize that I     (change) too!