Mixed Tenses in Paragraph ( 1

In the following passages, fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets.

On the platform I whiled away the time by____1_____ (look) at the posters of the films in town. Then suddenly the whole atmosphere ______2_____ (change). There _____3_______ (be) the clamour of a bell, the _____4________ (rumble) of passengers as they _______5______ (dash) towards the train which ______6______ (steam) in. The passengers literally _______7_______ (fight) for a place in the compartments. My friend had the good fortune of not _____8________ (have) to join them.

Man has always made use of his inventive genius to force nature to yield its secrets. He has made spectacular break-throughs in technology firmly _____1____ (belief) that the sort of progress he _____2____ (make) an unmixed blessing. He has seldom _____3____ (give) thought to the fact that the air he ____4_____ ( breathe), the water he _____5____ (drink), or the food he _____6____ (eat) could be ____7_____ (exhaust). There is little realization on his part that what he ____8_____ (consider) progress is seriously disturbing the ecological balance of the earth.

The time was five p.m. We, my parents, my sister and I ____1_____ (go) on a vacation to Delhi. My father’s sister and her family ____2_____ (live) there. They ____3_____ (live) in Delhi for the past fifteen years. Our train was to leave at six p.m. It ____4_____ (take) us about 20 to 25 minutes to reach the station. As we ____5_____ (wonder) where our driver was, we saw him running up. We quickly got in and left for the station. We ____6_____ (arrive) there at 5.40 and ____7_____ (begin) to run with our luggage. We had to go to platform number five. ‘Oh God!’ we thought as we sped. The train ____8____ (arrive) on the platform and there was the usual activity around. Gasping for breath we all got into our compartment at last!

Keats expresses the idea in his letters to his brother George in which he _____1____ (pour) out the wealth of family affection, which is one of the most pleasant features of his character. He _____2____ (describe) how he ____3_____ (have) to see his mother, how she _____4____ (laugh) at his bad jokes. A letter ____5_____ (write) in this way destroys distances; it continues the personal talk the intimate friendship that _____6____ (interrupt) by separation. If it ____7_____ (attempt) to be orderly and elaborate, it may be a good essay, but it ____8_____ ( be ) a bad letter.

Thus Chimpoo became part of the zoo. Thousands of people _____1____ (visit) the zoo specially to see the lovable chimpanzee. Rohit and Mala also used to visit the zoo but they ____2_____ (feel) that their own Chimpoo ____3_____ (forget) all the love they ____4_____ (shower) on him. Chimpoo ____5_____ (become) a creature of another world. One day, they ____6_____ (go) close to the cage and ____7_____ (whisper). Chimpoo, you ___8______ (forget) us. Tears of love rolled down their eyes.

He went out in the morning to visit his old mother. On the way back, the fan belt of his car _____1____ (break) causing the engine to overheat and the water to boil away. He ____2_____ (get) out of the car and _____3____ (walk) to the nearest house, about fifty yards off the road and ____4_____ (ask) the woman who _________ (answer) the door if he ____6_____ (can) please have a jug of water. While he ____7_____ (wait), he ____8_____ (happen) to glance in.

Added to his physical suffering was his mental distress. Everybody ____1_____ (praise) him as a player, but nobody _____2____ (recognise) him as a composer. His early compositions ____3_____ (regard) as the clever exercise of a musician who _____4____ (play) but who could not create. Yet creation was the _____5____ (absorb) passion of his life. Even at Bonn, he ____6_____ (make) it the sole end of his ambition to ____7_____ (become) a great composer. He ____8_____ (long) to be himself.

Example :(0) draw

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that garbage ____1_____ (pile) up high on Strand Road. The air ____2_____ (fill) with stench and mosquitoes. Flies, dogs and rats ____3_____(invade) the area. One or two cases of dengue fever ____4_____ (be already) 5 _________ (be report). Two large bins at the corner of the road _____5____ (spill) over on to the road, ____6_____ (make) movement difficult. The road gets _________ (congest) during school hours.

There we learnt that he was in the Intensive Care Unit and that we could not see him right then. All of us ____1_____ (spend) a sleepless and anxious night there. Meanwhile my father ____2_____ (join) us. At last the fateful night _____3____ (over). The doctor _____4____ (assure) us that the danger was over. My brother ____5_____ (regain) his consciousness but still he ___6______ (keep) under observation for thirty-six hours. I cannot tell you how we _____7____ (pass) those three days which ____8_____ (seem) like thirty years.

10.

Example :(0) ‘went’

My grandmother always went to school with me because the school ____1_____ (attach) to the temple. The priest ____2_____ (teach) us the alphabet and the morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah _____3____ (sing) the alphabet or the prayer in chorus, my grandmother sat inside _____4____ (read) the scriptures. When we both ____5_____ (finish), we _____6____ (walk) back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They _____7____ (follow) us to our home _____8____ (grow) and fighting with each other.

11.

The Industrial Revolution brought the machine to the world. It ____1_____ (usher) in the Machine Age or the Mechanical Age. Of course, there ____2_____ (be) machines before, but none had been so big as the new machine. What _____3____ (be) a machine ? It is a big tool to ____4_____ (help) man to do his work. Man ___5______ (make) tools and ____7_____ (try) to better them. His supremacy over the other animals, many of them more powerful than he, ____8_____ (establish) because of his tools.

12.

Sukhiram retired from service. They two ____1_____ (be) prematurely old. They ____2_____ (face) financial problems and were also _____3____ (pine) for their son, but they did not lose heart. Hiramati, ____4_____ (realise) her husband’s worry and ____5_____ (know) that her son would never come back, _____6____ (start) making masks. The news spread. The sympathetic neighbours ____7_____ (join) them and _____8____ (start) selling the masks.

13.

Except one student who was taking down the words ____1_____ (write) on the board, all others ____2_____ (give) a feeling of a happy-go-lucky group _____3____ (have) no concern about the lesson that they ____4_____ (suppose) to learn. The student ______5___ (sit) at the extreme right ____6_____ (tease) the student next to him by ____7_____ (put) out his tongue since he was trying to concentrate on what the teacher ____8_____ (explain).

14.

I lived with a man once who used to make me mad that way. He ____1_____ (roll) on the sofa and watch me _____2____ (do) things by the hours together, ____3_____ (follow) me round the room with his eyes wherever I went. He said it did him real good to look on at me, ____4_____ (mess) about. He ____5_____ (say) it made him feel that life ____6_____ (be) not an idle dream. He said he often ___7______ (wonder) how he ____8_____ (go) on before he met me.

15.

When I went to University, I was given a room of my own. The common link of friendship ____1_____ (snap).My grandmother ____2_____ (accept) our seclusion with resignation.She rarely ____3_____ (leave) her spinning-wheel to talk to anyone. From sunrise to sunset, she ____4_____ (sit) by her wheel ____5_____ (spin). Only in the afternoon she ____6_____ (relax) for a while to feed the sparrows. Some sparrows ___7______ (come) and ____8_____ (perch) on her legs.

16.

I must have walked the streets till after midnight. At last I _____1____ (become) so ____2_____ (exhaust) and I ____3_____ (can) walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I was everything but ____4_____ (discourage). Then I ____5_____ (see) a sidewalk where I was sure that no passer-by ____6_____ (see) me and then ____7_____ (creep) under the sidewalk and ____8_____ (lie) for the night on the ground.

17.

Columbus found himself in a perilous situation, for he ____1_____ (observe) with great uneasiness the operation of ignorance and fear in producing disaffection amongst his crew. He ____2_____ (pretend) to seem ignorant of the fact that they ____3_____ (plot) against him. Notwithstanding the agitation of his mind, he ____4_____ (appear) with a cheerful countenance and apparently confident of success. Sometimes he ____5_____ (endeavour) to work upon the avarice of his men by a description of the wealth which they ____6_____ (acquire), on other occasions he ____7_____ (assume) an air of command and threatened them with vengeance if they ____8_____ (dare) to interfere with his plans.

18.

‘Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war’.

These lines ____1_____ (take) from Milton’s Sonnet to Cromwell and now ____2_____ (form) a well-known proverb. Every one ____3_____ (talk) of the victories of war but few ____4_____ (discuss) those of peace. We usually ____5_____ (extol) warriors and soldiers on account of their famous victories and splendid deeds of bravery on the battlefield. When, however, we ____6_____ (think) of the achievements of great men – such as their triumphs over nature, disease, ignorance, oppression etc., for the betterment of the human race-we ____7_____ (realize) that the victories of peace ____8_____ (be) perhaps more glorious than those of war.

19.

The students, teachers and the school have long felt the need to improve the surroundings. The open drains are 1 (breed) grounds of mosquitoes and flies. They ____2____ (overflow) as they are not ____3_____ (clean) regularly. The residents ____4_____ (ask) not to throw domestic refuse that is ____5_____ (dispose) into them. The roads ____7_____ (be) narrow. The local municipality ____7_____ (try) to tackle the problem. Hence, we ____8_____ (decide) to lend a helping hand.

20.

A horrible conviction darted through Oak. With a sensation of bodily faintness he ____1_____ (advance); at one point the rails ____2_____ (break) through and there he ____3_____ (see) the footprints of his ewes. The dog ____4_____ (come) up, ____5_____ (lick) his hand and made signs ____6_____ (imply) that he ____7_____ (expect) some great reward for signal services ____8_____ (render).

21.

Andhra Pradesh ____1_____ (become) the first State in India to hold a paperless Cabinet meeting ____2_____(set) a new trend in the power corridors of the country.

The paperless Cabinet ____3_____(meet) was the brainchild of Chief Minister Naidu, as ahead of the meeting the technology-savvy CM____4_____ (ask) all the Ministers not ____5____ (bring) any paper but just come with an iPad. At the first such E-Cabinet meeting, many important decisions ____6_____(take).

Henceforth the agenda of the Cabinet, as well as the decisions will be accessible to the Ministers on their desktops, laptops and iPads. E-Cabinet is a self-managed file ____7_____(share) system through a cloud tool, specially ____8___(design) for the purpose.

22.

No matter how good technology ____1_____ (become) you can’t beat instinct, especially if it is the case of Anny, a young detective dog fresh out of training. It was routine ___2___ (prance) around at Mumbai Airport for her when she suddenly ___3___ (sniff) something that made her sit up. In seconds, she ___4___(run) towards a woman with such force that her handler fell. The woman on Anny’s radar was a tourist who ___5___ (alight) from an International Airlines flight at 4 a.m. The haul, Anny detected, amounted to Rs.3.2 crore. The drugs ___6___ (conceal) in cardboard boxes wrapped so well in ___7___ (embroider) lace that they would never have appeared suspicious but for Anny’s sense of smell. This was Anny’s first catch after a three-month’s ___8___ (train) at the BSF Institute near Gwalior.

23.

Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, could not sleep one night and called the guard in the antechamber ___1___ (bring) him a book. The guard, who ___2___ (stay) up several nights, had fallen asleep on duty.

When no one ___3___ (answer), the king got up and saw that the guard had fallen asleep while ___4___ (write) something. It was a letter to his mother.

“Mother, I feel very sleepy because I ___5___ (stand) guard for the last few nights, although it was not my turn. I did this in order to earn more money and send it to you. I ___6___ (send) you some money now that I have earned this way.”

Reading this, the king returned to his room, ___7___ (take) a handful of gold coins and put them on the paper without ___8___ (awake) the guard.

24.

When President Xi Jinping ___1___ (travel) to India later this month, he might have to compete for attention. There ___2___ (be) sharp focus on the first lady, Peng Liyuan, who is likely ___3___ (accompany) him.

It ___4___ (believe) in China that for a long time that Peng was more famous than her husband. Her prodigious ___5___ (sing) talent propelled her from being a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to becoming a senior officer. She ___6___ (send) to the front during the war between China and Vietnam to sing and boost the morale of the forces.

Peng became a household name after she ___7___ (perform) on China Central Television during the Chinese New Year. The yearly programme which is still popular ___8___ (view) by millions every year.

25.

The teacher in a progressive school was perturbed because he could not keep his pupils from ___1___ (look) out from the window. When the teacher looked out he ___2___ (see) a nine-year-old boy, shabbily ___3___ (dress) and shivering with cold. The teacher asked the boy not to disturb his class. The poor boy was in tears, “I ___4___ (do) nothing wrong,” he said, “I was just here ___5___ (listen) to your lessons and learn something before going to the store; but if you don’t want me here I won’t come back.”

“Why don’t you come to school?”

“Because my father can’t afford to pay the fees every month,” ___6___ (sob) the boy.

Then the teacher said, “Don’t worry about the fees. Come and study. I ___7___ (speak) to your father.” The boy made much progress at the end of the year. Later, other kind people helped him continue his studies. He became a great scholar, history professor as well as an ___8___ (outstand) Italian writer. His name is Ludovico Antonio Murotori.

Answers

1. Looking
2. Changed
3. Was
4. rumbling
5. dashed
6. steamed
7. fought
8. having

1. believing
2. is making
3. given
4. breathes
5. drinks
6. eats
7. exhausted
8. considers
3.
1. were going
2. lived
3. had been living
4. would take
5. were wondering
6. arrived
7. began
8. had arrived
4.
1. pours
2. describes
3. has
4. laughs
5. writes
6. interrupts
7. attempts
8. is
5.
1. visited
2. felt
3. had forgotten
4. had showered
5. had become
6. went
7. whispered
8. have forgotten
6.
1. broke
2. got
3. walked
4. asked
5. answered
6. could
7. waiting
8. happened
7.
1. praised
2. recognised
3. were regarded
4. could play
5. create
6. was
7. made
8. longed
8.
1. will suit
2. are
3. agree
4. is
5. surprised
6. live
7. work
8. study
9.
1. spent
2. joined
3. was over
4. assured
5. had regained
6. would be kept
7. passed
8. seemed
10.
1. was attached
2. taught
3. singing
4. reading
5. finished
6. walked
7. followed
8. growling
11.
1. ushered
2. had been
3. is
4. help
5. has been called
6. has made
7. tried
8. was established
12.
1. were
2. were facing
3. pining
4. realising
5. knowing
6. started
7. joined
8. started
13.
1. written
2. gave
3. having
4. were supposed
5. sitting
6. was teasing
7. putting
8. was explaining
14.
1. would roll
2. doing
3. following
4. messing
5. said
6. was
7. wondered
8. could go
15.
1. was snapped
2. accepted
3. left
4. sat
5. spinning
6. relaxed
7. came
8. perched
16.
1. became
2. exhausted
3. could
4. discouraged
5. saw
6. could see
7. crept
8. lay
17.
1. had observed
2. pretended
3. were plotting
4. appeared
5. endeavoured
6. would acquire
7. assumed
8. dared
18.
1. have been taken
2. form
3. talks
4. discuss
5. extol
6. think
7. realise
8. are
19.
breeding
are overflowing
cleaned
have been asked
disposed
are
is trying
have decided
20.
advanced
were broken
saw
came
licked
implying
expected
rendered
21.
has become
setting
meeting
had asked
to bring
were taken
sharing
designed
22.
becomes
prancing
sniffed
was running
has alighted
were concealed
embroidered
training
23.
to bring
had stayed
answered
writing
have been standing
Will send
Took
awaking
24.
travels
will be
to accompany
is believed
singing
was sent
performed
is viewed
25.
looking
saw
dressed
have done
listening
sobbed
will speak
outstanding

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Mixed Tenses in Paragraph ( 1 - 25)