Mixed Verb Tenses - Exercises

Created by Robert C Thomas

#1 Fill in the verbs Dear Bill, Thanks for the phone call. It 1______ (be) good to hear from you and I 2______ (look) forward to seeing you at the meeting next week. Here 3______ (be) the problem I 4______ (mention). In the past six months we 5______ (lose) 10% of our sales volume of your product 6______ (compare) to last year and even over the recent holidays-- usually a good sales period -- figures for your products 7______ (continue) to drop. We 8______(try) a number of things, but without success. So far we 9______(use) rebate programs, we 10______(send out) direct mailings and we 11______ (even call) customers directly to ask them why their orders 12______ (drop off). Our only guess 13______ (be) that something 14______(change) in the quality of your product's manufacture. Whatever the reason, if we 15______(continue) to lose sales at this rate, we 16______(have) to discontinue carrying your product. Unfortunately, I 17______ (only just receive) the sales half-year printouts. If I 18______ (know) about this before now, I 19______ (ask) for a meeting much sooner. I just hope we 20______ (be) not too late to fix the problem. See you next week at the meeting. Sincerely, John

Mixed Verb Tenses - Exercises

Created by Robert C Thomas
#2 Fill in the verbs using the column to the right An email from Jack at the airport. Write the correct tense of the verb in the column directly to the right Dear John, I __________ (arrive) late for the 7am flight

Correct form of verb (tense)

4 1 . 4 2 . 4 3 . 4 4 . 4 5 . 4 6 . 4 7 . 4 8 . 4 9 . 5 0 .

and, unfortunately, ___________ (miss) it.

It _________ (be) 2pm now and

I __________ (sit) in the middle of the caf area.

Honestly, if I __________ (know) I would have to wait so

long for the next flight, I _______ (leave) at 4am.

Also, for the 8 am meeting tomorrow I ______ (promise)

that I _______ (arrive) early. No problem with that!

By the way, ________________ (you hear) yet from

our people in China? I ________ (hope) that the news

is good. If you ________ (hear) some news,

5 1 . 5 2 . 5 3 . 5 4 .

__________ (you call) me, please?

Enough with business. Now I ________ (go) to get something to eat. I ________ (send) you a text when I land in Phoenix.

All the best, Jack

5 5 .

Mixed Verb Tenses - Exercises

Created by Robert C Thomas #3 Fill in the correct form of the verb
We 1__________________________(see) the house for the first time last year. Clearly, the house 2________________________ (be) empty for a long time. No one 3___________________________ (take care) of it, no one 4_______________________ (paint) it, and, worse, no one 5___________________________ (clean) the inside of it for many years. The price, however, 6_______________________ (be) irresistible, so we 7___________________________ (buy) it and, at the time, 8____________________________(are) quite happy with the deal we 9_____________________________(get). However, if we 10_____________________________ (realize) how much work it 11_____________________________(be), we probably 12_____________________________ (not buy) it to begin with. It was only after we 13______________________________ (already start) work on it that we 14_____________________________ (realize) that the house was in terrible condition and that it 15________________________(require) a lot of work before we 16__________________________ (live) in it. As it turned out, it 17____________________(is) necessary to scrape the paint and wall paper from all the rooms and this 18_______________________ (take) nearly six months. Then it 19__________________(is) necessary to scrape and paint the outside of the house. At one point I 20 ___________________ (call) my cousin who is a professional house painter and said, "If I 21 ________________________ (pay) you $10,000, 22 _______________________ (paint) my house?" But I 23 ______________________________ (not do), because if he 23______________________ (say) yes, I 24 ___________________________ (not able) to afford it. Thank goodness -- in the past few days we 25_____________________ (finally finish) it. Looking forward to your visit, Danny