Grammar activities (Elementary) - Coleen Degnan-Veness 2003

The Marie Celeste

1 Read the story about the Marie Celeste and fill in the gaps with was or were.

The Marie Celeste (1) ... a ship. On 5 December 1872, the Marie Celeste (2) ... in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There (3) ... something strange about this ship, so the captain of another ship, the Dei Gratia, stopped his ship and went on board the Marie Celeste with another man. They (4) ... surprised because there (5) ... no people on the ship at all.lt (6) ... completely empty.

There (7) ... a lot of food on the ship. And in the kitchen, there (8) ... saucepans of food, half cooked - but the fire (9) ... out. In the captain's room, there (10) ... some half­finished breakfast on the table: there (11) ... an egg and an open bottle of medicine. Everything (12) ... in its place. The men (13) ... not there, but all of their clothes and things (14) ... there. Did the men jump off the ship? But why?

The captain of the Dei Gratia looked at the book on the table. The last date in it (15) ... 25 November. Did the men leave after that day? (16) ... the Marie Celeste in the Atlantic without men for ten days? People wanted to know. So, they looked for information and found that it (17) ... an American ship. It left New York with ten people on it: Captain Briggs, seven crewmen, the captain's wife and young daughter. No one saw them again and no one knows what happened to them.

2. Here is a picture of the Marie Celeste when the captain of the Dei Gratia went aboard. Circle the wrong things in the picture. Why are they wrong?