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Verb Tense Test

Average: 4 (8 votes)
Wed, 06/17/2009 - 00:57 — Chris McCarthy

Look at the following sentences and type in the missing word (only one word per sentence).  Use the words in brackets to help you. 

Link: General Quiz - Time to Review

Link: Verb Collocations

Link: Can you guess the tenses?

  • I have been (live) here since last summer.
  • He was very (shake) up after his accident.
  • Have you ever (swim) in the ocean?
  • I didn't like this book at first, but now I'm (begin) to like it.
  • What's that smell? Have you (be) smoking?
  • All I did last night was (watch) TV.
  • I was (use) my computer when Paul called.
  • Susan speaks English (perfect) .
  • The next bus to Brighton is (leave) at 2:20.
  • This tree was (grow) by my father.


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Comments

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 05:24 — 62freebird

watch or watching

Hi! It's great daily class for me. I'd like to say thank Chris everyday. Today, There are very usuful examples to understand "Tense". However No 6 ; All I did last night was watch TV. Is it correct? I thing that All I did last night was watching TV. Thanks again.

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 06:07 — Yura

Why - watch? Explain, please!

Why - watch? Explain, please!!! I have the same problem. Worried
Everything is correct! Thanks a lot. Smile

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 06:53 — Natela

All I did was +

-ing or bare infinitive? I've also forgotten this.

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 07:15 — Chris McCarthy

watching vs watch

Use -ing to describe what was happening at a fixed time. It is used to describe something temporary i.e. something that didn't happen for a long time:

"What were you doing last night at 7pm?" (in this sentence 'doing' shows that we should answer with a progressive/continuous verb )

"I was watching TV."

You can also use -ing when two events occur at the same time. You need two clauses e.g. 'make dinner' and 'watching TV.' -ing is used with 'while'.

"While I was watching TV, Hugo made dinner."

The infinitive is used for a fixed state or something which didn't change. The word 'all' in the sentence shows us that nothing else happened:

"All I did last night was watch TV."

I hope that helps,

Chris

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 07:42 — Natela

Thank you, Chris!

It's a very clear explanation. Now I understand it Smile

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 20:19 — Yura

thank you for explanation (misprint)

Thank you very much. I didn't know this construction. Super!!! Applause
All I did last night was look for misprint( joke - the last sentence - IS - instead I ). Wink
Thank you once again. Now I'll use this phrase. Smile

Sat, 06/20/2009 - 12:17 — over

All I did was watch...

All I did was watch...
It's a very intresting grammatical construction.
I have never met it before.

Tue, 06/30/2009 - 09:11 — Clutch

thanks for test. it's very

thanks for test. it's very amazing

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 11:09 — ynastia

Thank you, very useful

Thank you, very useful lesson. I have a question about the sentence "The next bus to Brighton is leaving at 2:20."
It seems that we have a timetable here and we should use present indefinite tense, why present continuous instead?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 20:28 — danielhh

hey thanks !!!!

It´s really nice to have a way like this to learn some skills and also to correct some mistakes !!!

thankful heart!!!