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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #108479: Dream Holiday 1/2





    > 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 past continuous - Placement test 1 - Past perfect - Pluperfect
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    Dream Holiday 1/2


    1) A REMINDER OF THE USUAL TENSES in the active form: 

     

    Remember, the tense of narration is the  simple past:

    ex: Alison went to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for a holiday. It looked like Paradise.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                            

     

     * IMPORTANT !  If an action happened before a simple past, it must be in the past perfect simple (or in -ing if the speaker wants to insist on the duration of the action.) 

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


    ex :  Many Americans had been coming on holiday here since the creation of the resort.

     

    *   You'll use  the conditional : would + verb  and the past conditionalwould + have + past participle if the main clauses are in the preterite, or in the past perfect.

     

    ex: Life was so pleasant here that people would have thought they were in Paradise! 


     * If you need to use a modal auxiliary  can => could   indicate a physical or intellectual ability, a capacity, and a 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: Alison shouldn't order expensive drinks or food... She can't afford them! 

     

    2) In the test illustrating this lesson, you will realise that a great number of actions are endured by the different subjects :

    they are in the passive form! 

    ex: People were lying on recliners which were protected from the sun by hoods or smaller umbrellas.

    In this sentence, 'the people were lying' and 'the recliners were protected', we can notice that in English like in French the auxiliary that's used, is 'to be', that of the passive form, used in the different tenses.

    ex: The drinks will be ordered (simple future) to the 'beach butler', and the bills had to be signed (modal in the past), in order to be paid (past infinitive) on departure. 

    ex: If you asked anything, your wish would be fulfilled (past conditional) by the 'beach butler' ! 

    Do not forget that the complement introduced by 'by', is  the agent (the subject doing the action!). 

     

                                                                 

     

    Ready for the test?  You sure are!  





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    When she winced behind her sun glasses, she the deep blue cloudless sky and hear the rhythmic din of the breakers of the Pacific Ocean. She here for a week already and somewhat lonely and out of place. Her friend Liz had pushed her to take advantage of this wonderful place of their dreams, the luxurious hotel, the rich people around, where a man to get married with...
    much more pleasant with her friend, but Liz to hospital for appendicitis and Alison had come alone. She had discovered that the package didn't include lunches, drinks and extras... Therefore, she to loneliness, diet Coke and crisps if she wanted to be able to pay her bill...

    Suddenly, among dreadful splashing and rolling, an excessively tanned and sophisticated lady in a white mini bikini over by a powerful breaker and yelled... Her screams by the unbelievable strength and turmoil of the Ocean. Alison could make out that something had been lost, jewels it seemed, but the lady didn't care. Her insurance her back.
    That night, Alison took a walk on the beach and saw Agustin, the handsome and poor 'beach butler'. He had a metal detector, but his harvest almost insignificant... 'Just a few coins... No jewels!' he sighed. They sat on the sand and spoke. Out of pity, she offered him a drink. In broken English, he explained the poor villagers' condition and how Paradise quite difficult to live in.
    A little later, they had sex, without passion, or tenderness... Then, he left her quickly and she sat on the beach, at the sea...

    (to be continued)








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