English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Questions
Chapter 3. Using Verbs Correctly
Part 1 Welcome to grammarland
True-False Questions
1. English has six verb tenses. Each of the six tenses has two forms: basic and progressive (also known as “perfect”).
2. The progressive form shows action, occurrence, or state of being that is taking place right here and now.
3. The tense of English verbs is formed from helping verbs and principal parts.
4. There are eight different past tenses. Each one indicates a subtle shift in time.
5. The past tense and past participle forms of irregular verbs are created by adding -d, -ed, or -t to the present form but the vowel doesn’t change.
6. Lie means “to be in a reclining position.” Lie conjugates to lie, lay, lain.
7. Lay means “to put down.” Lay conjugates to lay, laid, laid.
8. Use the two past verb forms to show events that take place now.
9. Use the six past forms (simple past, present perfect, past perfect, past progressive, present perfect progressive, past perfect progressive) to show events that took place before the present.
10. Use the four future forms (simple future, future perfect, future progressive, future perfect progressive) to show events that take place in the future.
Completion Questions
Select the word that best completes each sentence.
1. Croatia (is, was) the first country to recognize the United States in 1776.
2. Ross Perot (resign, resigned, resigning) from the General Motors board of directors because of its decision to purchase Hughes Aircraft Company.
3. John Wilkes Booth (shotted, shot, shooted) Lincoln in a theater and was found in a warehouse.
4. Theodore Roosevelt (won, winned, wonned) the Nobel Prize for his arbitration of treaty discussions at the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
5. The Dominican Republic was called Santo Domingo when it first (gained, gain) independence.
6. The national anthem of the Netherlands is the oldest national anthem in the world: The music (appeart, appeared) in 1572, the lyrics in 1590.
7. James Garfield could (wrote, write) Latin with one hand and Greek with the other—simultaneously.
8. Before Bill Clinton, no left-handed American president had ever (serve, served) two terms.
9. Only three Presidents (have graduated, graduate) from the military academies: Grant and Eisenhower from West Point, and Carter from Annapolis.
10. The U.S. Constitution stipulates that, to be eligible for the Presidency, a candidate must be a natural-born citizen, must (have lived, live) in the United States for a minimum of 14 years, and must be at least 35 years old.
11. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to have a presidential aircraft, but he only (flewed, flew) on the airplane once, to travel to the Yalta conference during World War II.
12. Of all U.S. presidents, none (live, lived) to be older than John Adams, who died at the age of 91.
13. John Quincy Adams (taked, took) his last skinny-dip in the Potomac on his seventyninth birthday.
14. All U.S. presidents (have worn, weared, have weared) glasses, but some of these men didn’t like to be seen wearing eyeglasses in public.
15. When Harry Truman left office in 1952, he (get, got) in his own car and (drived, drove) himself back to Missouri.
Multiple-Choice Questions
Select the best answer for each question.
1. There are four basic types of verbs:
(a) Action verbs, linking verbs, helping verbs, verb phrases
(b) Helping verbs, action verbs, gerunds, participles
(c) Helping verbs, verb phrases, active verbs, passive verbs
(d) Action verbs, normal verbs, regular verbs, irregular verbs
2. When applied to verbs, the word tense indicates
(a) How many subjects act or receive the action
(b) Who or what experiences the action
(c) When the action takes place: past, present, or future
(d) The attitude expressed toward the action
3. To show the future tense, English uses the helping verb
(a) Has
(b) Have
(c) Are
(d) Will
4. The past participle forms all the following tenses except
(a) Future perfect
(b) The past perfect
(c) Present perfect
(d) The active voice
5. The past tense of the verb to give is
(a) Gived
(b) Gave
(c) Have given
(d) Gaved
6. The present participle of to lie (to be in a horizontal position) is
(a) Lying
(b) Lay
(c) Have lain
(d) Lie
7. The past tense of the verb to freeze is
(a) Freezed
(b) Have froze
(c) Froze
(d) Frozed
8. The past participle of the verb to write is
(a) Writing
(b) Have written
(c) Wrote
(d) Writed
9. The verb to be includes all the following principal parts except
(a) Being, was
(b) Has, have
(c) Been, am
(d) Are, is
10. Which of the following sentences is in the active voice?
(a) Plans for an assisted-living center were revealed by the city council at yesterday’s meeting.
(b) The package was opened by my cousin Louie.
(c) At noon, the gates to the stadium were finally opened.
(d) A snail can sleep for three years.
11. Which of the following sentences is in the passive voice?
(a) The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
(b) A dentist invented the electric chair.
(c) You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world.
(d) You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.
12. You should use the active voice whenever possible for all the following reasons except
(a) It creates a sentence that is direct and to the point.
(b) It creates a shorter sentence and is thus easier to read.
(c) It emphasizes the receiver of the action rather than the doer of the action.
(d) It emphasizes the doer of the action rather than the receiver of the action.