Luyện ngữ pháp - English Grammar for Academic Purposes (Chapter 1: Time and Action - Using Verbs))


IV. CONTINUOUS TENSE: EXPANSION AND EXERCISES

7. Comparing Continuous and Simple Tense Verbs

Use the abbreviated chart below to remind yourself of the main differences between the Simple and Continuous Verb Tenses. Then, do the exercises below the chart, which ask you to choose either the simple or continuous verb tenses.

Simple Tense Continuous Tense
General Time
Action happens sometime within a very large period of time, such as past, present or future OR a smaller period of time, like a year or 'this morning'—but we don't know exactly when it happens inside of that period of time. Time is not given or mentioned except when given as a fact (like a history fact). Facts have no time limits—they are always true.		 Specific Time
Action happens at an exact time or it 'fills up' a period of time. Time of the Action is always given (in the simple present the time is always now).
Action has no clear time or clear start and stopping points
Like a pendulum. There is no clear starting or ending time. Time just keeps going. Exact time is not clear. Action could go on forever. It is 'fuzzy time'. Time is not exact.		 Action has clear time and time limits
Like a sand clock—action starts, continues and then stops, but this is not repeated. Action is limited to a certain exact time—like a 'time jail'. The time has clear borders.
Time is often not even mentioned. The time could be as small as 'last year' or 'this morning', but the action is only generally somewhere within that time. If time is mentioned, it is actually a historic fact—facts had no time and are forever. The emphasis is on the fact and not the action. Time is mentioned: Three time possibilities. The action is happening at an exact point in time (i.e. 7:00 p.m.). It may start before the time and may or may not continue after—but the time it happens in is limited and is usually a somewhat short period of time. So, we use numbers and time words. 4:00, this morning, noon, 1973, September, one week ago. In the Continuous Present, time may not be measured, but we know it is happening now. The action fills up all of the exact time. Action is mostly continuous through this time—it doesn't start, stop and then possibly start again later.

Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks with the correct simple past and past continuous tense.

Earthquake!! Nhập câu trả lời vào ô trống.

1. I (1) _____ (work) at the office yesterday, when suddenly, the earth (2) _____ (begin) to shake.
(1)   (2)

2. It (3) _____ (be) an earthquake, and it (4) _____ (be) severe.
(3)   (4)

3. Everyone instantly (5) _____ (panic) and some people (6) _____ (start) to yell, "Get down!"
(5)   (6)

4. Everyone (7) _____ (scramble) to climb under their desks, and they (8) _____ (cover) their heads.
(7)   (8)

5. Many books began to fall, and soon everything (9) _____ (fall) off of the shelves. Computers (10) _____ (slide) all over the tops of the desks, and some (11) _____ (fall, even) onto the floor.
(9)   (10)   (11)

6. The shaking seemed to last forever, but finally it (12) _____ (stop). Everyone (13) _____ (be) in a state of shock, but they (14) _____ (start) to climb from under their desks.
(12)   (13)   (14)

7. The boss (15) _____ (start) to go around and he (16) _____ (ask) if anyone was hurt.
(15)   (16)

8. Luckily, everyone was okay, but it (17) _____ (take) about 30 minutes for people to start cleaning. But soon, everyone (18) _____ (clean up, busily), but they (19) _____ (talk, constantly) about what had just happened.
(17)   (18)   (19)

Exercise 2: Fill in the blanks with the correct simple future and future continuous tense.

My Dream Job of the Future! Nhập câu trả lời vào ô trống.

1. I (1) _____ (sit) at a huge desk, with a powerful graphics-capable computer sitting on it.
(1)

2. I (2) _____ (work) as an advertising specialist in a massive advertising agency.
(2)

3. But first, I (3) _____ (quit) my job working as a Barista at StarStruck Coffee.
(3)

4. All day, I (4) _____ (field) calls from advertising executives from brand name companies.
(4)

5. I (5) _____ (make) appointments with marketing representatives and (6) _____ (work) with them to create impressive videos.
(5)   (6)

6. The company I (7) _____ (work) for (8) _____ (pay) me massive amounts of money, and I (9) _____ (spend) it on luxury items like expensive cars.
(7)   (8)   (9)

7. For now, I am currently working at my summer job to help pay those bills while I am attending a local college, but someday, I (10) _____ (get) my real job—working in advertising.
(10)

Exercise 3: Decide whether the verbs should be in the Simple Tense or the Continuous Tense.

Jouji and his sister, Junko Nhập câu trả lời vào ô trống.

8. Jouji and his sister, Junko, (1) _____ (be) twins, but they are very different from each other.
(1)

9. Jouji (2) _____ (have) a quiet personality, while Junko is friendly and sometimes loud.
(2)

10. While they (3) _____ (grow up) they did many things together and made up many stories about their stuffed animal toys.
(3)

11. But now, they (4) _____ (be) older and they are finished high school.
(4)

12. They both moved from Tokyo last year and now they (5) _____ (study, both) in North America.
(5)

13. Junko (6) _____ (study) filmmaking at the Praett Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and Jouji (7) _____ (study) dentistry at the University of Montreal.
(6)   (7)

14. Their aunt, Kumiko, (8) _____ (live) in Vancouver, Canada, so last year Jouji and Junko (9) _____ (study) English in Vancouver so that they could approve their English test score.
(8)   (9)

15. Last year was difficult for Junko because New York (10) _____ (be) very different from Tokyo, and when she (11) _____ (take) the train to Brooklyn, she sometimes (12) _____ (feel) a little afraid.
(10)   (11)   (12)

16. Sometimes the train (13) _____ (come) late, which (14) _____ (happen, never) in Tokyo.
(13)   (14)

17. But this year, Junko (15) _____ (enjoy, really) her studies in filmmaking.
(15)

18. While some of her instructors (16) _____ (teach) at the Praett Institute, they (17) _____ (work, also) on movies, so students often help their instructors while they are making movies.
(16)   (17)

19. But this week, Junko (18) _____ (plan) her own short movie.
(18)

20. Every day, she (19) _____ (have) a lot of work to do. She (20) _____ (do, must) a lot of reading, and she (21) _____ (watch, must) at least part of a movie every day to learn the techniques of filmmaking.
(19)   (20)   (21)

21. When she (22) _____ (have) time, Junko (23) _____ (go) to Starlucky's to have coffee with Yuan, her friend from Beijing.
(22)   (23)

22. They (24) _____ (laugh, always) and (25) _____ (encourage) each other in their studies.
(24)   (25)

23. Jouji (26) _____ (be) a quiet person, and he (27) _____ (study) a lot.
(26)   (27)

24. He (28) _____ (get, always) very high grades in his classes.
(28)

25. Last year, he was studying biology and chemistry. This semester, he (29) _____ (take) physiology and basic dentistry methods.
(29)

26. He (30) _____ (spend) a lot of time in the library, but when he (31) _____ (have) free time, he (32) _____ (enjoy) going to downtown Montreal.
(30)   (31)   (32)

27. About half of the people in Montreal (33) _____ (speak) French and the other half (34) _____ (speak) English.
(33)   (34)

28. Jouji (35) _____ (feel, often) like he (36) _____ (live) in two countries at the same time.
(35)   (36)

29. These days, he (37) _____ (meet) with a friend who (38) _____ (teach) him a bit of French.
(37)   (38)

30. This year, Jouji (39) _____ (live) in an apartment with a friend and they (40) _____ (shop) for food every week.
(39)   (40)

31. Sometimes the person who is at the check-out counter (41) _____ (speak, not) any English, so Jouji tries to use his limited French.
(41)

32. He (42) _____ (practice) French whenever he (43) _____ (need) a break from studying physiology, so Jouji (44) _____ (learn, slowly) French.
(42)   (43)   (44)

33. Every week Jouji and Junko (45) _____ (talk) to their mother and father by Skype.
(45)

34. Living away from home is sometimes difficult, but they (46) _____ (try) not to feel homesick while they (47) _____ (study) in North America.
(46)   (47)

35. Also, every semester, they (48) _____ (fly) to see each other. One semester, Jouji (49) _____ (go) to Brooklyn, NY, and the next semester, Junko (50) _____ (go) to Montreal.
(48)   (49)   (50)

Exercise 4: Use the appropriate past, present or future forms of the following continuous or simple forms of the verbs.

Mei's New Job Nhập câu trả lời vào ô trống.

36. Last year, Mei (1) _____ (get) a job as a software engineer for a video game production company, after she (2) _____ (study) software engineering at a University that was well-known for its software engineering program.
(1)   (2)

37. This job (3) _____ (be) Mei's dream job. Every day, she (4) _____ (be) able to work on video games. It is a very creative job.
(3)   (4)

38. Last week, she (5) _____ (propose) a new game to her supervisor. Her supervisor loved it and on Monday, her supervisor (6) _____ (tell) her that she could start working on it.
(5)   (6)

39. So, Mei is very happy, and all this week she (7) _____ (work, busily) on her new project.
(7)

40. On Monday, she immediately (8) _____ (start) to work on the design of the video game. All day on Tuesday, she (9) _____ (work) on a schedule for completing the project. Then yesterday, she spent the whole day dreaming about the characters for her video game.
(8)   (9)

41. This project (10) _____ (demand) a lot of time and energy from Mei. For the next six months, she (11) _____ (work) 24/7 on this project.
(10)   (11)

42. When it is finished, other programmers on her team (12) _____ (need) to check to make sure everything is working correctly. They (13) _____ (check) and (14) _____ (recheck) every little part of the game.
(12)   (13)   (14)

43. Then, they (15) _____ (recruit) professional game players to test the game. The professional players (16) _____ (play) the game again and again and then they (17) _____ (make) suggestions for improvement.
(15)   (16)   (17)

44. While this (18) _____ (happen), May (19) _____ (worry, always) that something in the game will not work. But that is just part of this job. It can be stressful, but it is also fun and creative.
(18)   (19)

- 6.1 Making Questions Using the Continuous Verb Tense


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