Letters with different tenses
1.-Complete the following letter with a suitable tense of the verb in brackets
Germany
Sunday, 20th June
Dear Clare,
I …………… (leave) Australia at the end of April and I ……….. (get) closer to Britain every day! I ………. (arrive) in Munich two day ago and I …………. (stay) with my German pen friend, Suzanne, and her family now. They …………. (have) a flat near the centre of Munich.
Suzanne …………….. (have) a job with a Japanese company. She ………….. (get) up very early every morning and ………. (leave) the flat before six o’clock. It is not my sort of job!
Last night we …….. (go) to a beer festival. It …….. (be) great fun. ………. you ever …….. (eat) real frankfurters? They are delicious! I …….. (drink) a lot of beer and we ………… (not get) home until after midnight.
Tomorrow I ……… (see) “Swam Lake” at the ballet and on Wednesday I ………….. (go) to Austria for a few days.
I hope everything is going well with you. I …………. (look) forward to staying with you in Oxford next month.
Love, Lisa
2.-Jack Cooper …..………. (be) a production manager at Weston Aeronautics for ten years. He ………….. (live) in a small house in the suburbs of Bristol with his wife, Peggy. At the moment, Weston Aeronautics …………….. (expand) into Europe and they ………….. (build) a new factory in Toulouse.
A few months ago, Jack ………….. (go) to Toulouse to look at the new factory. He ……….. (talk) to Peter Chester, managing director of Weston about the new jobs there.
Jack ……….. (like) the sound of the new jobs and ………….. (think) that he would like to work in France. When he …………. (get) back to Bristol, he ……………. (discuss) things with his wife. But they …………… (decide) to wait for a time before making a decision to leave Bristol.
They ……….. (discuss) whether to go or not for two weeks now, but they …………… (not make) up their minds yet.
The cost of living ………… (be) higher in France, But Weston say they ………….. (provide) a house with the job- so in fact, the money Jack …………… (earn) in Toulouse …………… (be) better than in Bristol.
3.-One of Hollywood’s most famous dogs ……………. (be) Lassie- the star of nine feature films and a popular TV series. Lassie first ……………………. (appear) in the classic film “Lassie Come Home” in 1943. While they ……………. (make) the film, a dog-trainer …………….. (prepare) Lassie for every scene so that there wouldn’t be any problems with other animals on the set. The Lassie story ………… (touch) the hearts of children all over the world and became one the most popular animal films ever made.
Today, Hollywood film-makers ………… (make) a new Lassie film, which ……………… (entertain) the whole family. The film ………. (tell) the story of a man without a job in a large city, who moves his family to a farm in Virginia to build a new life. When the situation with their neighbours becomes difficult, Lassie ………… (come) to the rescue. They dog, they ………….. (use) in this new film is , in fact, a descendent of the original dog used in the first Lassie film. With the beautiful scenery of Virginia, a good story and family values, this film …………… (probably be) a big success and who knows? … next year perhaps we …………….. (watch) Lassie on television too-
4.-Change the verbs in brackets into the correct tense .-
Dear Marjorie,
We ........... (arrive) at 10 o’clock yesterday morning. We ……….. (stay) in a nice little hotel not far from the city centre. We ……… (already see) St Peter’s and tomorrow we ……….. (go) on a trip to Pompeii. I ………. (be) there before- I ………….. (go) to Italy quite often when I ………. (be) a child- but it ……….. (be) interesting to see if it …………. (change) in any way.
The weather ……………… (be) nice for the whole fortnight, it ……….(say) so in this morning’s newspaper, so we …………(try) to do as much sunbathing and swimming as possible. According to he hotel manager, the weather ………….. (be) terrible so fat this summer, so we …………. (be) very fortunate.
The journey here ………… 8be) awful. First Bill ……… (forget) the passports, so we ………… (have to) drive back home and fetch them. Then the customs people………. (spend) two hours looking through our luggage; they ……….. (not speak) English, so we never …………. (discover) what they …….. (look) for.
Bill …….. (study) a map of Rome for the last hour, so I ………… (think) he ……….. (intend) to do some sightseeing. I ……. (hope) you ……….. (enjoy) the peace and quiet now that we ……… (be) away. I …….. (write) again soon.
Lots of love, Debbie
5.- Use the present simple, present continuous, past simple, present perfect, past perfect or would to complete the blanks
Dear Gary,
How are you? I (1) ……................. (not hear) from you for a while. (2) ……................. you ……................. (find) a job yet? I (3) ……................. (have) an interview last week, but I think the interviewers (4) ……................. already ................. (choose) the person they wanted. I’m not worried, though, because I (5) ……................ (go) to three more interviews next week.(6) ……................. you still …................. (go) out with Annabel? You (7) …….................(be) together for a long time, haven’t you? If you asked her to getmarried, (8) ……................. she …................. (say) yes? I (9) ……................. (split) up with my girlfriend last month, but we’re still friends. I (10) ……................. (see) her quite often at the sports centre.
Well, I must go now. Write soon with your news.
Best wishes
Mike
Key to Letters with Different tenses