Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one. Some sentences have two correct answers. Choose both.
By the time the chair finally called for a vote, the committee ............... for nearly three hours and tempers were fraying.
Wrong!
Use the past perfect continuous to show an activity in progress up to a past point in time.
I ............... you were coming, I would have saved you a seat instead of giving it away.
Wrong!
This is a third conditional, so it needs the past perfect in the if-clause.
The moment I stepped into the gallery, I realised someone ............... with the lighting to make the colours look harsher.
Wrong!
Use past perfect to show the tampering happened before you entered.
If you ............... the report already, why did you ask me to summarise it again in the meeting?
Wrong!
Use the present perfect for a completed action with present relevance in a current conversation.
He talks as if he ............... the whole negotiation himself, but he only joined for the final call.
Wrong!
After as if about an unreal past, use the past perfect to mark distance from reality.
I ............... to email you yesterday, but the server went down and I lost the draft.
Wrong!
Was going to expresses an intended action that did not happen.
No sooner ............... the press release than the phones started ringing off the hook.
Wrong!
No sooner triggers inversion with had plus past participle.
It is high time the board ............... a decision instead of commissioning yet another review.
Wrong!
After it is high time, English uses a past form to mark urgency and criticism.
When I called at eight, she ............... dinner, so I kept it brief.
Wrong!
Use the past continuous for an action in progress at a specific past time.
The CEO ............... to the press twice this week, so any further comment would be redundant.
Wrong!
Use the present perfect with this week to connect past events to the current time period.
If it ............... for your intervention, the deal would have collapsed on the spot.
Select 2 answers.
Wrong!
This fixed conditional can take either were not or had not been to express an unreal past situation.
She ............... the deadline, but only because the client quietly extended it at the last minute.
Wrong!
Use would have missed for an unreal past result prevented by a later change.
Done.
Score: 0/12
Answers
- By the time the chair finally called for a vote, the committee had been arguing for nearly three hours and tempers were fraying.
- I had known you were coming, I would have saved you a seat instead of giving it away.
- The moment I stepped into the gallery, I realised someone had been tampering with the lighting to make the colours look harsher.
- If you have read the report already, why did you ask me to summarise it again in the meeting?
- He talks as if he had handled the whole negotiation himself, but he only joined for the final call.
- I was going to email you yesterday, but the server went down and I lost the draft.
- No sooner had we issued the press release than the phones started ringing off the hook.
- It is high time the board made a decision instead of commissioning yet another review.
- When I called at eight, she was cooking dinner, so I kept it brief.
- The CEO has spoken to the press twice this week, so any further comment would be redundant.
- If it had not been for your intervention, the deal would have collapsed on the spot.
If it were not for your intervention, the deal would have collapsed on the spot. - She would have missed the deadline, but only because the client quietly extended it at the last minute.
