Exercise 32. Comment on the use of the Past Indefinite, Past Continuous, Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous.

1. The cook used to snatch away the letters from home, before she [Ma Parker] had read them. (Mansfield) 2. As she neared the kitchen, Chris came from the garage where he' d been attending to a lorry with a magneto trouble, wiping his hands on some waste. (Lindsay) 3. She was always telling herself that the only rational course was to make Edward a final statement of her intentions, then break off all communications. (Maugham) 4. I realized that he had come away with me in order to discuss once more what he had been already discussing for hours with his sister-in-law. (Maugham) 5. I saw that it was 2 o'clock. We had been sittingthere an hour and a half. (Du Maurier) 6. It had long been dark when Arthur rang at the front door of the.great house in the Via Borra. (Voynich) 7. It was three o'clock. The wind had fallen, the moon was shining over the quiet sea. (Christie) 8. Every Sunday morning Ethel would read aloud while Ma Parker did her washing. (Mansfield) 9. We' d got to Ruby's room by then. She wasn't there, of course, but she' d been there, because the dress she had been wearing was lying across a chair. (Christie) 10. To take off her boots or to put them on was an agony to her, but it had been an agony for years. (Mansfield) 11. Here I saw this man, whom I had lost sight of some time; for I had been travelling in the provinces. (Dickens) 12. When the Gadfly raised his head the sun had set, and the red glow was dying in the west. (Voynich) 13. It was Sunday morning and they had all been back at Grayhallock for three days. (Murdoch) 14. Rainborough noticed that she had been crying, her face was stained with tears... (Murdoch) 15. Ann was certainly being bravely cheerful in a way which both exasperated Hugh and half compelled his admiration. (Murdoch) 16. The moment the noise ceased, she glided from the room; ascended the stairs with incredible softnees and silence; and was lost in the gloom above. (Dickens) 17. We hadn't been married a month before 1 was out of love with him. He was in Lincolnshire at the time, and I was living near him. (Hansford Johnson), 18. When Cowperwood reached the jail, Jasper was there. (Dreiser) 19. Susan Nipper stood opposite to her young mistress one morning, as she folded and sealed a note she had been writing. (Dickens) 20. The whole party arrived in safety at the Bush before Mr. Pickwick had recovered his breath. (Dickens) 21. He [Hugh] jumped to feel Ann's clasp upon his arm. She had been saying something to him. (Murdoch) 22. He had scarcely had time to form this conclusion, when a window above stairs was thrown up. (Dickens) 23. The door was just going to be closed...when an inquisitive boarder, who had been peeping between the hinges, set up a fearful screaming. (Dickens) 24. Mr. Pecksniff and his fair daughters had not stood warming themselves at the fire ten minutes, when the sound of feet was heard upon the stairs. (Dickens) 25. He [Cowperwood]... was forever asking questions with a keen desire for an intelligent reply. (Dreiser) 26. He turned off the electric light. The electric light had been burning all night. (Hemingway) 27....she would go on discussing a book she said she had read but manifestly hadn't or she would break up a dull conversation with some fantastic irrelevance for which everyone was secretly grateful. (Hilton) 28. When Katie brought in the tea-tray, the boy opened his eyes and sat up with a bewildered air. (Voynich) 29. When we were boy and girl we used to call each other by our Christian names. (Maugham) 30. There were bits of the work that, because I had been doing them so long, I knew better than anyone else. (Snow) 31. He had sat down with the child on his knees, and was helping her to put the flowers in order. (Voynich) 32. He had sat ruminating about the matter for some time, when the voice of Roker demanded whether he might come in. (Dickens) 33. He seemed to be quietly and carefully deciding what he was going to say. (Murdoch) 34. There was no doubt that their arrival had transformed the factory for her. Rosa had been working in the factory for about two years. Before that she had been a journalist. (Murdoch) 35. After dinner Ruby came and sat with us in the lounge. She remained even after the dancing had started. We had arranged to play bridge later, but we were waiting for Mark... and also for Josie. She was going to make a fourth with us. (Christie) 36. She used to sit with him and his family a lot. He used to take her for drives sometimes. (Christie) 37. George made no answer, and we found... that he had been asleep for some time. (Jerome K. Jerome) 38. She talked and laughed and positively forgot until he had come in... that Pearl Fulton had not turned up. (Mansfield) 39. Some years ago, when I was the Editor of a Correspondence Column, I used to receive heartbroken letters from young men asking for advice and sympathy. (Leacock) 40. 1 took the sculls. I had not been pulling for more than a minute or so, when George noticed something black floating on the water. (Jerome K. Jerome) 41. The voice had no sooner ceased than the room was shaken with such violence that the windows rattled in their frames. (Dickens) 42. The figure had suddenly retreated from the gate, and was running back hastily to the mill. (Ch. Bronte) 43. As he was in dinner dress, Fanny asked where he bad been dining. (Dickens)

Exercise 33. Insert the Past Indefinite, Past Continuous, Past Periect or Past Perfect Continuous,

1. Then she found that the tears _ a _ quietly __ from her eyes. Perhaps they __ for a long time, (to flow, to flow) (Murdoch) 2. One day of the new year she __ as usual at her window when Edward came prancing up the drive on horseback, (to sit). (Maugham) 3. He and I __ friends since our early twenties. At this time he was fifty-two, and already an elder statesman of science. (to be) (Snow) 4. I __ out Honor's letter and __ it, and __ to the post. The fog __ When I __ I __ some biscuits and _ myself with whisky and hot milk, (to copy, to seal, to go, to clear, to return, to eat, to dose) (Murdoch) 5. He told me that an American Signore __ there for three months, (to stay) (Maugham) 6. She [Aileen] stole downstairs and out into the vestibule, open- ing the outer door and looking out into the street. The lamps __ already __ in the dark, and a cool wind __ (to flare, to blow| (Dreiser) 7. It was true that we __ one another almost intimatelj! for five and twenty years, (to know) (Maugham) 8. I __ hardly __ more than the first three chapters when my attention was divertet by a conversation going on in the front of the store, (to read (Leacock) 9. She __ mortally with my husband only ten minute! ago. (to quarrel) (Shaw) 10. He __ scarcely __ outside the dooj when he heard Wardle's voice talking loudly, (to get) (Dickens) 11. The next day he __ some honeysuckle against the porch, when he heard the Miller's voice calling to him from the road, (to nai| up) (Wilde) 12. Roddy __ rapidly and nervously up and downthj room for a minute or two. (to walk) (Christie) 13. I knew righi away that there was the place I __. all my life, (to look for (Maugham) 14. Half-past eleven. He [the Gadfly] __ still __ though the hand was stiff and swollen, (to file) (Voynich) 15. A few seconds after the stranger __ to lead Mrs. Budger to her cai riage, he darted swiftly from the room, (to disappear) (Dickert) 16. At nine o'clock that evening a long black Packard roadster drew up to her door, and Arnie stepped out of the front seat where he __ with the driver and a girl between them, (to sit) (Wilson) 17. I do not stop to say what adventures he began to imagine, or what career to devise for himself before he __ three miles from home, (to ride) (Thackeray) 18. Mrs. Banty put down the telephone receiver. She __ up twice and each time the answer __ the same: Mrs. Marple was out. (to ring, to be) (Christie) 19. The sun __ a long way up and it __ to get really hot. (to move, to begin) (Abrahams) 20. He was in the extremity of indecision and very wounded by Rosa's refusal to help him. She __ even __ him for the last few days, (to avoid) (Murdoch) 21. The light in his flat showed that Mrs. Simpson __ in for him. (to wait) (Greene) 22. I called on Mrs. Strickland before I left. I __ her for some time, and I noticed changes in her; it was not only that she __ older, thinner, and more lined; I think her character __. (to see — negative, to be, to alter) (Maugham) 23. He __ since nine that morning and his stomach __ with hunger, (to eat — negative, to growl) (/. Shaw)24. They __ no sooner __ at this point than a most violent and startling knocking was heard at the door, (to arrive) (Dickens) 25. The old lady was dressed out in a brocaded gown which __ the light for twerity years, (to see — negative) (Dickens) 26. Very often, afterwards, in the midst of their talk, he would break off, to try to understand what it was the waves __ always __ (to say) (Dickens) 27. The women and children and old men __ Now he was alone with his mother in the little two-roomed shack, (to go) (Abrahams) 28. I, tried to feel my heart. I could not feel my heart. It __ beating, (to stop) (Jerome K. Jerome) 29. After he __ there some time, he sold the sack of flour for a very good price, (to wait) (Wilde) 30. Mr. Moore now __ silent for several minutes, (to sit) (Ch. Bronte) 31. I think he showed me about thirty canvases. It was the result of the six years during which he __ (to paint) (Maugham) 32. Grimly she began to pack her goods and to prepare to leave the hovel. It __ for days and water __ up on the earthen floor... (to rain, to well) (Buck) 33. Seven o'clock __ hardly __ striking on the following morning when Mr. Pickwick's comprehensive mind was aroused from the state of unconsciousness in which slumber __ it, by a loud knocking at the chamber door, (to cease, to plunge) (Dickens) 34. When the Gadfly __ himself that no one __ at the spy-hole he __ the piece of bread and carefully __ it away. In the middle was the thing he __, a bundle of small files, (to satisfy, to watch, to take up, to crumble, to expect) (Voynich)' 35. Gemma __ the room and. __ for a little while looking out of the window. When she __, the Gadfly __ again __ on the table and __ his eyes with one hand. He __ evidently __ her presence, (to cross, to stand, to turn round, to lean, to cover, to forget) (Voynich) 36. He __ the key out of the lock, __ the door after he __ through it; __ the key in his pocket, and __ into the garden, (to take, to secure, to pass, to put, to go down) (Collins) 37. It __. still __ It __ for days. I arrived at Hereford Square, __ the water off my overcoat and — it up, and __ into the drawing room. A bright fire __ and the lamps were, all on.-. Antonia, who __ by the fire, jumped up to welcome me... She __ me and __ what sort of day I __. (to rain, to rain, to shake, to hang, to tramp, to burn, to read, to kiss, to ask, to have) (Murdoch) 38. It was in this direction that her mind — when her father sent for her to come to him in his room. He __ home from his office early in the afternoon and by good luck found her in. She __ no desire to go out into the world these last few days, (to run, to come, to have) (Dreiser) 39. Arthur took out of his portmanteau a framed picture, carefully wrapped up. It was a crayon portrait of Montanelli, which __ from Rome only a few days before. He __ this precious treasure when Julia's page __ in a supper-tray on which the old Italian cook, who __ Gladys before the harsh new mistress __, __ such little delicacies as she considered her dear signorino might permit himself to eat. (to come, to unwrap, to bring, to serve, to come, to place) (Voynich) 40. The first person upon whom Arthur's eyes fell, as he __ the room where the students' little gatherings were held, was his old playmate, Dr. Warren's daughter. She __ in a corner by the window, listening with an absorbed and earnest face to what one of the " initiators", a tall young Lombard in a threadbare coat, __ to her. During the last few months she __ and __ greatly, and now __ a grown-up young woman... She was dressed all in black, and __ a black scarf over her head, as the room __ cold and draughty. The initiator __ passionately __ to her the misery of the Calabrian peasantry, (to enter, to sit, to say, to change, to develop, to look, to throw, to be, to describe) (Voynich) 41. They __ in this way about three miles, when Mr. Wardle, who __ of the window for two or three minutes, suddenly __ his face and __ in breathless eagerness, " Here they are! " (to travel, to look out, to draw in, to exclaim) (Dickens) 42. He __ on the step for some time..., when he was roused by observing that a boy, who __ him carelessly some minutes before, __, and __ now __ him... from the opposite side of the street, (to crouch, to pass, to return, to survey) (Dickens) 43. When the Gadfly __ into Zita's room she __ before a mirror, fastening one of the sprays into her dress. She __ apparently __ her mind to be good-humoured and __ to him with a little cluster of crimson buds tied together, (to come, to stand, to make up, to come up) (Voynich) 44. He __ about half an hour ago. (to arrive) (Wilde) 45. Godfrey rose and took his breakfast earlier than usual, but lingered in the wainscoted parlour V'H his younger brothers __ their mea! and __. (to finish, to go out) (Eliot)