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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #105898: Use of tenses : The worst enemy ? The best friend ? 1/2
    > Other English exercises on the same topics: Conditional and hypothesis | Past | Find the correct tense [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Past simple or present perfect - Past tenses - Conditional - Past simple (video) - Modal: may/might - Past simple or continuous - Placement test 1 - I wish, if only
    > Double-click on words you don't understand


    Use of tenses : The worst enemy ? The best friend ? 1/2


    Once again, I'm going to tell you a story, a sad one, still, but aren't sad stories the most beautiful ones ?

     

    Remember, the tense you use to tell a story is the simple  past .

         * How to build the simple past ? Very easy :  

       - for regular verbs : you simply add - ed to the verbal : ex : he walked =    VERBAL+ ED

             - for irregular verbs, it's even easier :  2nd column of the list of irregular verbs (to be known BY HEART!)

    ex : The two girls lived in a very modest studio and painted for a living (= to earn enough money ...)

        * If two past actions happened simultaneously (at the same time), then :

    the long (and important)action is in the preterit in -ing and the short action which interrupts it, is in the  simple past.

    ex: While Sue was doing her best to take care of her friend, Joanna decided not to fight ...

        * If a past action happened before a simple past, it must be in the past perfect simple (or en -ing if you want to insist on the length of the action ) :

                  had + verb in the past participle   or  had + been + verb + ing  

    ex: The two friends had always shared the same tastes and interests?

     If you need to use the future, remember that it doesn't get on well with the past ...  Remember too that  after a temporal conjunction (after, before, when, while,

    once, as long as, as soon as,) the future and the 'conditional' are impossible: they're replaced by the simple present (and the simple past).

    ex : When I'm feeling better, we will go to paint the Bay of Naples.

    You will also have to use  the  'conditional' : would + verb

        ex : Sue wouldn't like her friend to let go, and die !

        * If you need to use a modal auxiliary  can => could   indicate a physical or intellectual ability, and permission in informal language.

       and  may(=> might) express either a permission or a possibility.

       must(=> have to) indicate either an obligation, a duty, or near certainty.

          should   expresses advice given or 'what would be good to exist' ...

        ex: The doctor explained that Joanna could survive if she decided to ! 

        * Besides, you'll have to think about the irregular forms of comparatives and superlatives  of two adjectives  :

    Good =>  ... better than ...=> the best ...  .

    Bad =>   ... worse than ... => the worst ... .

     

    Are you ready ? Here's a wonderful story ... Please, give it the tenses it deserves ...  Good luck ! 

     

                                  

     



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    English exercise "Use of tenses : The worst enemy ? The best friend ? 1/2" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
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    Once, in a very pleasant and quaint district of New York City, Joanna and Sue, two young artists, a small and inexpensive studio. They were kind, helpful, hardworking and everyone them in the neighbourhood ... Life was hard and people .
    One freezing winter, an unexpected stranger, Mr Pneumonia, invited himself into the district, one victim here, and many others there ... Joanna so seriously that Sue was terribly worried ... She her friend's bedside hours on end, giving her herb teas and watching her fever ... She for her friend's life.
    The medicines looked inefficient and the doctor Sue that her friend's survival her willpower to fight for her own life. Yet, Joanna was weaker and weaker and quite resigned to let go ... Through the window, she the leaves of an ivy vine falling and shrivelling in the winter storm. The young woman down the surviving leaves : twenty ... fifteen ... twelve ... eleven ...
    The fall was accelerating with the storm, and the ivy vine naked ... Joanna was absolutely persuaded that when the last leaf , she too ...
    such a stupid idea in mind ? Nobody ! Sue was watching her friend withering away and she despaired ... Three leaves on the vine ... Sue pulled down the blinds so that Joanna the leaves ...
    (to be continued...)








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