Exercise 29. Comment on the use ot the Present Indefinite, Present Continuous, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous.

1. Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed. (Maugham) 2. You probably haven't seen her since those summer holidays when Mum and Dad were abroad. (Christie) 3. Gerald, if you are going away with Lord Illingworth, go at once. Go before it kills me: but don't ask me to meet him. (Wilde) 4. There's the car. Arnold's come back. I must go and bathe my eyes. I don't want them to see I've been crying. (Maugham) 5. I am seeing the other nurse, Nurse O'Brien, to-day. (Christie) 6. As she turns to go, she finds that Bella has entered and is staring at her and her father with impassive hatred. (Gow and D’Usseau) 7, Bella is a Negro woman of fifty who has been in the Langdon home for twenty-four years and thus occupies a favored position. (Gow and D’Usseau) 8. " You are being very absurd, Laura, " she said coldly. (Mansfield) 9. When I've taken off my things we shall go into the next room and have tea. (Mansfield) 10. I'm always doing things on the spur of the moment to ray own inconvenience and other people's. (Maugham) 11. He has all the virtues. Dr. Ramsay, Miss Glover, even Mrs. Branderton have been drumming his praise into my ears. (Maugham) 12. Fatty came over to Lanny's table. A fat, cheerful Greek with laughing wrinkles at the sides of his eyes. " You're alone to-day, " Fatty said. Lanny nodded and lit a cigarette. " I'm leaving to-night." " Leaving? " " Yes, Fatty. I'm going home to the Karroo." (Abrahams) 13. D'you know that Robert Qldham and Caroline have been madly in love with one another for the last ten years? They' ve waited all this time, and now at last Caroline is free. (Maugham) 14. This will be the death of her when she hears it. (Dreiser) 15. You have told my learned friend that you have known Mr. Pickwick a long time. (Dickens) 16. He is always breaking the law. (Shaw) 17. " It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister, " said Miss Jemima. " Sambo, the black servant, has just rung the bell." (Thackeray) 18. She doesn't like me... She's always saying sharp things to me. (Christie) 19. " I think you are being very wise. A complete holiday, a complete rest, that is what you need. Have you decided where you are going? " " I've changed my mind, " I said. " I don't think I'm doind away after all." (Murdoch) 20. Ah, Miss Marple. Good morning. Glad you' ve come. My wife's been ringing you up like a lunatic. (Christie) 21. A woman never acknowledges such a nondescript age as forty-eight unless she is going to marry a widower with seventeen children. (Maugham) 22. " By the way, you' ve been talking about me. I see it written in your faces. Your silence tells me all. I could even guess what you've been saying..." " You' ve been listening, " Gladys cried, making a face at him. (Priestley) 23. You are being far too romantic about it. (Hilton) 24. " Do you like me at all, Bertha? " he asked. " I've been wanting to ask you ever since you came home." (Maugham) 25. Years have passed since we began this life. (Dickens) 26. I' ve been making some sandwiches. Won't you come up and have some? (Christie) 27. I cannot imagine why I' ve lived thirty years with a man I dislike so much. (Maugham) 28. " Antonia has been telling me about your flat, " said Rosemary. " It sounds ideal. And there's a heavenly view over to Westminster Cathedral." (Murdoch) 29. We' ve been going to pictures about twice a week ever since. (Maugham) 30. I' ve flown a kite every Saturday afternoon ever since I was a kid and I' m going to fly a kite as long as ever I want to. (Maugham) 31. I know this is an old story, I don't understand it myself and if I set it down in black and white it is only with a faint hope that when I have written it I may get a clearer view of if. (Maugham) 32. Who is coming to tea? (Wilde) 33. " I don't know what's been the matter with me. I' ve been so miserable, Eddie..." " You've been crying. " (Maugham)