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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #106143: Such a strange trial ... 2/2 Mix of tenses
    > Other English exercises on the same topics: | Past | Plu-perfect | Find the correct tense [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Past simple or present perfect - Past tenses - Past simple (video) - Modal: may/might - Past simple or continuous - Placement test 1 - Past perfect - Pluperfect
    > Double-click on words you don't understand


    Such a strange trial ... 2/2 Mix of tenses


    For this lesson, which I really want to adapt to a test that is different from others, I've decided to make you think a lot ! Here, I have mixed all tenses, modals, active and passive forms and what's unreal , plus an 'if clause' to end 'decorating' it all !

     

    As I go on telling my story, I will very often use the tense of narration : the  simple past. You will find many, in the active and passive forms :

    ex : They were like two peas in a pod ! ; The man she showed ... ; The counsel advised them to ...;

    ex : She was asked to point at the culprit !  ;   They were acquitted for lack of evidence !

        * If an action started in the past and is still going on in the present, the verb must be in the present perfect : Have/has + Verb in the past participle

    ex : Since Adams's release, Mrs Salmon has been very frightened.

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

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

    ex : Mrs Parkers had been beaten to death. 

    ex : Adams's horrible eyes had been haunting Mrs Salmon !

    *  If you want to use a future, remember that it doesn't get on well with the past  ...  In this test, you'll need one in a particular context :

    the 'potential if clauses '  - if the verb of the main clause is in the simple future, the verb of the subordinate introduced by 'if' will be in the present ( simple or perfect)

    ex : If Mrs Salmon points at the culprit, he will be resentful to her forever ...

         * You'll use  the conditional : would + verb  and the past conditional: would + have + past participle

    ex : Adams would be happy to get away with it !

    ex : Mrs Salmon would have been relieved to know that Adams was condemned to death !

         * You will also have to use the modals : can => could  which indicate physical or intellectual capacity (and permission in informal language,) and their pasts :

    can /could have + past participle

    ex : What could the judge do in such circumstances ?

    ex : Since the night of the murder, Mrs Salmon hadn't been able to forget Adams ! 

         * A structure that you don't know well : the unreal present = I wish + modal preterite   indicates that the action is imagined, but isn't real ...

    ! the  modal preterite of 'be' = 'were' (all along) .

    ex : I wish I knew != I would like to know !

    ex : They decided it was time they left ! = It was time to leave.!

    Reading this lesson carefully, and thinking a little before choosing, it will be quite easy for you to succeed ... Go for it !

     

                                                          

                                  Offended Justice ...   Then, it happened ...





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    (... continued)
    Mrs Salmon had been flabbergasted the suspect’s twin-brother. They were like two peas in a pod and one from the other … Everybody knew that one was guilty whereas but nobody knew which was who ...
    What in such circumstances ? Not much …
    Knowing that it’s less shocking and immoral to release a culprit than to condemn an innocent man, and that everyone is presumed innocent until guilty the two brothers for lack of evidence … One problem was that everyone was sure that a murderer was at large, and rightfully scared …
    During the trial, the reporters and a huge crowd in front of the court house … The twins for long minutes inside the court house with their counsel. Then they decided it was time they left the place … The counsel them to go out through the back door … but one of them, no one which, said : ’I’ve been acquitted, haven’t I ?’ Therefore, they went out through the front door, wedged in the crowd, and then, it happened : one of the twins right in front of a bus, he screamed and , his skull smashed just as Mrs Parkers 's . The surviving twin over his brother’s body, looked at Mrs Salmon, and cried … Was it a divine vengeance ? Whether it was the murderer or the innocent man who , nobody
    Yet, if I tell you that, since then, Mrs Salmon at night ?








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