ESL Blogs

My friends, here is my new intermediate test for you to master your knowledge. You may think it is more complicated than my previous intermediate tests, but it is not. The sentences are longer, but the grammar is the same. You know what to do, don't you?

1. We thought our kids would go for sleep before we will return (3 mistakes).
2. The teacher stayed in Philadelphia a week before she realized she can’t do nothing for Sam (4).
3. I thought I will tan all day long but weather was rainy and I must stay home (4).
4. Anything didn’t do before I returned (3).
5. I asked did he know the address of our friend who moved in the other city (4).
6. When she came in the theater she saw the play already began and the actors were performing at the stage during few minutes (5).
7. I am looking for my glasses for half an hour, but didn’t still find it (4).
8. I knew the parcel left at the door, but when I returned home, it was disappeared (4).
9. He said when I had called him yesterday, he had been watching football game (3).
10. I really interested of the results of this test as I spent many time trying teaching you (5).

The deadline is the next Monday, February 27.

Have a nice Sunday! Hahahaha!

February 27

My friends, today is a deadline for this test and I see you are all done. So, here are the answers and my explanations. Sure, you can ask your questions.

1. We thought our kids would have gone to sleep before we __returned (3 mistakes).
2. The teacher had been staying in Philadelphia for a week before she realized she could do nothing for Sam (4).
3. I thought I would be tanning all day long, but the weather was rainy and I had to stay at home (4).
4. Nothing had been done before I returned (3).
5. I asked if he knew the address of our friend who had moved to another city (4).
6. When she came to the theater, she saw the play had already begun and the actors had been performing on the stage for a few minutes (5).
7. I have been looking for my glasses for half an hour, but haven’t found them, yet. (4).
8. I knew the parcel had been left at the door, but when I returned home, it had disappeared (4).
9. He said when I __ called him yesterday he was watching a football game (3).
10. I am really interested in the results of this test as I have spent much time trying to teach you (5).

And here are my explanations.

1. I explained such use of the tenses on the previous test and on my blog about the future tenses. I also used the American expression GO TO SLEEP that means to FALL ASLEEP.
2. First, the teacher spent a week in the city. Then, she realized she was unable to do anything. So, the first verb must be in the past perfect progressive tense. Besides, there must be FOR before A WEEK. In the last clause we must use COULD as we speak about the past. WE can say COULD DO NOTHING or COULDN’T DO ANYTHING, but the first is better, sounds more natural.
3. This sentence is in the future past tenses. It was my intention to tan all day long. So, it must be the progressive tenses. We use THE before WEATHER. We can’t use MUST in the past. And we say AT home.
4. I have explained more than once we don’t use ANYTHING/ANYBODY as a subject in the negative sentences. So, if NOTHING is a subject, it is obvious that the people didn’t do anything; it is the passive voice. Besides, they hadn’t done it BEFORE I returned. It must be the past perfect tenses.
5. My corrected sentence is good if all those actions were some time ago in the past and are not related to the present.  However, if I have just asked my question “Do you know the address of our friend who has moved?” and report it a few minutes later, it will be “I asked if he knows the address of our friend who has moved to another city”.
6. Both actions had been BEFORE she came to the theater.  If we mean some/several minutes, it must be A FEW minutes. FEW is an antonym for MANY. Sure, the actors were performing FOR a few minutes.
7. Both actions have been BEFORE I say this phrase. STILL is not used in the negative sentences.
8. This one turned out to be the hardest! So, here is the situation. One day I was out and the mailman brought a parcel. He didn’t find anybody at home and called me to say that he was leaving the parcel at the door. When I returned, I didn’t see any parcel. It means it disappeared while I was out. Now, about the tenses and the voices. The mailman left a parcel (active), But the parcel was left (passive).  The parcel disappeared (it is the active voice, DISAPPEAR is an intransitive verb). If I had used the verb STEAL for example, it would be the passive voice, as somebody stole it. Both actions had been before I returned, so both verbs must be in the past perfect tense.
9. Here is the rule many of you don’t know. If the direct speech is a complex sentence in the past tenses, the tenses in the reported speech must be the same.
10. We say “to be interested in”. TIME is an uncountable noun. “To teaching” is obviously wrong as TO is an infinitive particle. And, of course, the present perfect tense in the subordinate clause represents the fact of my not having stopped teaching you till now.

Thanks everyone for participation!