This grammar exercise tests your understanding of grammar rules and sentence patterns. Complete the following sentences.
1. I would have ..................... a gypsy.
To take somebody for a gypsy is to think that they are a gypsy.
2. Do you mind if I ………………. here until the rain stops?
After do you mind, present tenses are used.
3. Would you mind if I …………….. some music?
After would you mind, we use a simple past tense.
4. Grandmother …………………. go to hospital yesterday.
Must and should have present or future meanings. To talk about necessity in the past, we use ‘had to’.
5. If I ………………….. home earlier, I wouldn’t have missed the train.
In the third conditional, we use a past perfect tense in the if-clause and would have + past participle in the main clause.
6. If he had driven carelessly, he ………………… an accident.
In the third conditional, we use a past perfect tense in the if-clause and would have + past participle in the main clause.
7. He is ……………… to live in a finer house.
When enough is used as an adverb, it goes after the adjective it modifies.
8. He used a hammer …………….. drive a nail into the wall.
"In order to" is more emphatic than the infinitive.
9. I was so bewildered …………….. I could not say a word.
Note the pattern so…that. The above sentence can also be written as: ‘I was too bewildered to say a word’.
10. …………….. the last day of our holiday, it rained.
We use on with days.
11. The house is burning. It is ……………… fire.
12. Will you lend me the scissors when you are finished ………… them?
Answers
1. I would have taken him for a gypsy.
2. Do you mind if I stay here until the rain stops?
3. Would you mind if I played some music?
4. Grandmother had to go to hospital yesterday.
5. If I had left home earlier, I wouldn’t have missed the train.
6. If he had driven carelessly, he would have had an accident.
7. He is rich enough to live in a finer house.
8. He used a hammer to / in order to drive a nail into the wall.
9. I was so bewildered that I could not say a word.
10. On the last day of our holiday, it rained.
11. The house is burning. It is on fire.
12. Will you lend me the scissors when you are finished with them?
