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S.2Revision exercises – verb forms & Tenses (Mixed types)
No. / Date / Titles / MarksNobody had believed it was possible
Job Application Letter
The Perfect Halloween Plant
The Age of the Dinosaur
Going Too Deep
What Do Our Dreams Mean?
Seeing is believing
The Art of the Eight Limbs
The Future of Fog
Hip Hopping Hong Kong
Exercise 1
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
Nobody had believed it was possible
In 1912, the Titanic1hit an iceberg on its first trip across the Atlantic, and it 2sank four hours later. At that time, the Titanic was the largest ship that had ever travelled on the sea. It 3was carrying 2207 people, but it had taken on enough lifeboats for only 1178 people. When the passengers tried4to leave the ship, only 651 of them were able to get into lifeboats.
The Carpathia was 58 miles away when the Titanic called on its radio for help. It arrived two hours after the great ship 5had gone down, and it saved 705 people. Some of the survivors had been in the icy water for hours when they were saved. Most of the passengers hadn’t lived that long; 1502 people 6had lost their lives.
Through the whole tragedy, the Californian was only ten miles away. Its officers were close enough to see the Titanic, but they didn’t understand the situation. They never received the Titanic’s call for help, and they 7didn’t come to the rescue until too late.
Why was there such a great loss of life? Why 8were there so few survivors? Why didn’t the Californian come to help?
First of all, nobody had prepared for such a tragedy. Nobody had believed that the Titanic could sink. The steamship company 9had thought that its ship would be completely safe in all situations. They’d followed an old rule for the number of lifeboats, so they’d supplied lifeboats for only half the people. The passengers had not yet received their lifeboat numbers, nor had they practiced a lifeboat drill before the accident. Many of them 10had not even dressed warmly, for the ship had hit the iceberg late at night, and they didn’t believe they were in danger.
The ship had already received six ice warnings on its radio when it 11struck the iceberg. Nevertheless, it had not changed its direction or its speed. It was impossible to change direction quickly enough when the iceberg came in sight. When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the radio officer on the Californian had just gone to bed. He’d 12tried to warn the officers on the Titanic about the ice beforehe’d gone to bed, but the officers hadn’t listened.
After this accident, ocean travel changed. Now there 13are always enough lifeboats for everybody. Ships don’t go so far north in winter, and they 14watch carefully for ice. Radio officers work 24 hours a day. A tragedy like the sinking of the Titanicshould never15happen again.
Exercise 2
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
Job Application Letter
15th June, 2009
Dear Mr. Chan,
I 1saw your advertisement in the South China Morning last week and I am very interested in working for your organisation this year.
I am 16 years old and am about to graduate from Form 5. I2have not yet decided what I 3am going to do after I 4have finished my HKCE exams, but I5will definitely be free during the months of July and August. I really would like to 6have the chance to work in China.
At school I study Chinese Language, and I can use Putonghua quite well. I also feel that I have some relevant work experience because I 7worked for a similar organisation here in Hong Kong for two years. Unfortunately, I had to give this up recently because of my exams. However, when I 8was working, I did different kinds of things, like taking handicapped children out on day trips and going shopping for the elderly. Last summer, I also organised a walkathon. My duties 9were planning the route of the walkathon, 10making posters to let the public 11know about the event and going around secondary schools to encourage people to take part.
Because of my experience of working for this charitable organisation, I feel that I am the kind of person you 12are looking for. I am extremely hard-working and reliable and I get on well with all kinds of people.
I 13have attached a recent photo as you requested. I am available for an interview at any time and 14can be contacted at home on 2635 3355. I hope you 15will consider my application, and I look forward to 16hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Wong
Chris Wong
Exercise 3
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
The Perfect Halloween Plant
You1have been invited to your friend’s home for a Halloween party. You would like 2to take a gift with you as you know you are going to have a great time. What would you take? Chocolates? Flowers? Or maybe a plant. If you 3choose to take a plant, we will have the perfect plant for you.
The kind of plant we 4are thinkingof is called a ‘pitcher plant.’ You5may have seenpitcher plants in the flower market. As you can see in the photos, they are an unusual shape and are able 6to collect large amounts of water. Whether you think that pitcher plants are beautiful or ugly, there 7is something you should know about them. Pitcher plants are carnivorous – which means they eat meat!
A few years ago, two people 8were working on Palawan Island in the Philippines. Not many people go to Palawan Island. The two people got lost and9ended up climbing a 1726 metre mountain called Mount Victoria. Eventually,they 10were rescued after 13days without food. When they got back home, they talked about some large plants they had seen at the top of the mountain.
An explorer called Stewart McPherson 11heard about these plants and in 2007 he decided to go and 12take a look for himself. He 13found 30 new species of plants whilst he 14was in Palawan. He also found the plants he 15had heard about. He discovered a new species of pitcher plant that was so big, small animals like rats and mice could get trapped inside it. Any animal caught in this pitcher plant would be dissolved by the plant’s flesh eating enzymes.
So what 16do you call a new species of giant pitcher plant that can eat meat? McPhersondecided to name it after the famous natural history broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough. The plant 17is now known as Nepenthes Attenboroughii.
Would you like to have a flesh eating plant named after you? Whether you would or not, it certainly 18sounds like the perfect Halloween gift.
Exercise 4
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
The Age of the Dinosaur
Dinosaurs1livedon earth a long time ago. Some dinosaurs were huge, bigger than a whole family of elephants. Others were very small about the size of a chicken. People 2usedto believe that dinosaurs were dangerous – they 3were supposedto eat meat! In fact, many dinosaurs just ate plants and they4werecompletely harmless.
The mystery about dinosaurs is that they 5died suddenly about 65 million years ago. Nobody knows why they died. They 6livedon earth for about 135 million years. By comparison, modern man 7has beenhere for only about 35,000 years.
To get to the answer, dinosaurs’ bones and eggs 8have been studiedfor many years. Over these years, scientists’ efforts 9were not wasted.A lot of important information10was discovered. Now we are pretty sure how the dinosaurs 11lived, what they looked like, where they lived and what they ate.
Maybe you 12havealready heardof the famous Hollywood film Jurassic Park. In the film, a scientist broughtdinosaurs back to life from an old dinosaur egg.He wanted to fill the dinosaur park with all kinds of dinosaurs. As expected, the unwary man 13noticedthe threat only after the dinosaurs 14had startedattacking the humans.Jurassic Park is a film worth watching. With the exciting special effects, the dinosaurs 15were madevery real.
The film is only fantasy, but recently, scientists in China 16have foundsome dinosaur eggs similar to the ones in the film. Can they bring dinosaurs back to life? It is unlikely, but in science anything 17seemspossible. So don’t be too surprised if you come face-to-face with a huge, red and yellow creature on a trip to the New Territories. Just make sure you don’t end up as its lunch!
Exercise 5
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
Going Too Deep
If all the talk of Halloween is driving you around the bend, take a moment to think about National Geographic diver, Carl Spencer, who 1died over the summer from something called ‘the bends’.
The bends 2is something that happens when you3have been diving in deep water then rise to the surface too quickly. As you all know, when you go 4diving, you have to carry your air in a tank. To get as much as air as possible into the tank, the air 5iscompressed. About 80 per cent of air6is madeup of gas called nitrogen.
Once a diver 7reaches about 30 metres, the nitrogen begins to dissolve into water in the diver’s body. If the diver rises to the surface too quickly, the nitrogen 8forms little bubbles that enter into the blood stream. Divers may not realise at first that they have a problem. However, within a few hours of reaching the surface, they 9will soon begin to feel aches in their joints and headaches. A rash can also form on their skin. The pain is so bad and it 10causes the divers to put themselves into strange positions to try and get rid of the pain. That is why it is called the bends.
This kind of problem 11was first discovered by a scientist in 1670 called Robert Boyle. He 12put a snake into a vacuum pump to see what would happen. As the pressure in the pump rose, a large bubble 13formed in the snake’s eye just before it died in terrible pain.
Today, many divers carry diving tables and computers when they go diving. However, hundreds of people still 15suffer from the bends each year. Carl Spencer 14had been diving off the coast of a Greek Island making a film of HMHS Britannic – the sister ship of the Titanic – which sank there in 1916. Despite his experience of making deep sea dives, he 16was unable to survive.
Exercise 6
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
What Do Our Dreams Mean?
According to scientific research, we 1spend about six years of our life dreaming. We can have up to six dreams a night, and most dreams last only 5 to 20 minutes.
Dreams are like sets of random events. However, they 2are not considered as meaningless. Scientists3have discovered some common themes in our dreams and say that each may have a specific meaning. After a number of researches, five common ‘dream themes’ 4have been found. 5Do you know what they mean? Have a guess before you 6look for the answers!
Falling a long way
You might be too stressed in real life because you 7have been given too much work to do. What you really 8neednow is to slow down and take a rest.
Being lost
You feel a little bit lost in real life. Maybe you are the person in charge and a tough decision is about to 9be made. You may 10beafraid of making a bad choice. You should stay calm and think carefully about the options.
Being late
An important future event11has bothered you for days. If you 12have already prepared for it, don’t worry. If you 13are not ready for the event, do more preparation.
Floating through the air
It is like you 14have achievedsomething great in real life. Maybe you15have becomethe ‘best student’ in your class, or you may have won a significant award or two.
16Being chasedby someone or something
The person or thing 17chasing you is probably a sign of problems you 18are trying to escape from in real life. If you want to get rid of the night-mare, then it’s time to stop 19running and face your problem squarely.
Exercise 7
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
Seeing is believing
On Sunday 28th February, 60,000 people will be putting on their running shoes and taking part in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2010. Whether it is the 10km, half or full marathon, there 1will be feelings of pain, happiness and fulfilment all round as residents of Hong Kong and international visitors do their best 2to complete the course in their best times. Of all the runners though, there 3will be two professional marathon runners who everyone will be looking out for. One thing is for certain: they will both be running side by side.
Henry Wanyoike 4was born in Kenya on 10 May 1974. When he was a young boy, he showed great potential as a long distance runner. However, tragedy 5struck just before his 21st birthday. In his own words Henry said, ‘I went to bed a normal person, the next day I found myself in darkness and I thought my life 6had come to an end.’ His mother took him to the local hospital where they found that he had had a stroke whilst he 7was sleeping and8had lost 95 per cent of his sight.
It looked as though Henry’s running career was over, and the eye clinic he visited most days 9taught him how to knit jumpers. However, he continued training and asked other runners if he could run with them with a band connected between their wrists.
It was not long before Henry could not find anyone to run with him, simply because no one else could keep up with him. He finally found his old friend from his childhood, Joseph Kibunja, to help. Together, they 10won their first gold medal in the Australian Paralympic Games in 2000.
In 2003, they entered the Nairobi Marathon. The sponsor of the event was the Standard Chartered Bank. They were so impressed with Henry and Joseph, they 11have been inviting them to take part in the Hong Kong Marathon ever since and have supported the two runners whenever possible. Henry is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the bank’s campaign to reduce blindness in the world.
The bank’s support soon paid off as Henry and Joseph broke the Half Marathon world record in Hong Kong in February 2004.
Today, this dynamic pair 12is recognised as being among the fastest runners in the world, and they 13have won gold and silver medals in the Paralympics. Why not go and cheer them along at this year’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon?
Further details and the route map can 14be found on
Exercise 8
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
The Art of the Eight Limbs
The martial arts, always,1have been popular in Hong Kong. Whether it is judo, taekwondo or karate, there will usually be a club close by for both children and adults. Now you can try another martial art that2is becoming increasingly popular in both Hong Kong and the rest of the world. It is called Muay Wai or Thai boxing.
Although it is a new sport in Hong Kong, Muay Wai 3has been practised in Thailand for hundreds of years and today it is the country’s most popular sport. Unlike western boxing that relies on each boxer’s fists, Muay Wai 4uses eight part of the body: two hands, two elbows, two shins and two knees. This is why it 5is sometimes known as the Art of the Eight Limbs.
It6was first taught by Buddhist monks. Every Thai man has to live as a monk for at least one period of his life so most Thai men 7have been able to learn something about Muay Wai. Demonstrations of the sport became very popular during festivals – particularly religious festivals – and other celebrations.
Thai people 8have always had great respect for their royal family, which has traditionally shown interest in Muay Wai. If you were poor but were good at Muay Wai, you 9could be invited to live in a royal palace to teach the staff, soldiers, bodyguards and even princes the art of Muay Wai. It 10became a great way to improve your position in life.
It has always been a tradition that the teachers of Muay Wai 11are treated with great respect. As Thai boxers develop their skills under their teacher, they 12are expected to take part in ceremonies where they show their respect to their teacher. Such ceremonies 13canbe seen before a Muay Wai matchvery often.
The sport 14is becoming increasingly popular in Hong Kong and many action movies from America and Asia now 15feature actors using their Muay Wai skills. So start 16training now! While you may not be able to get a job in a royal palace in Thailand anymore, it may get you into the movies.
Exercise 9
Fill in the correct form of verbs in the blanks below.
The Future of Fog
In any horror movie, there 1will usually be a scene where thick fog appears. No one can see anything but we all know that something, or someone, terrible will appear from the fog and do shocking things. We sit on the edge of our seats waiting. We know what is going to happen, and we cannot wait.
Apart from helping to make a movie scarier, you would probably think that fog 2had no other use. Fog is exactly like a cloud and it 3is made up of thousands of tiny drops of water that float in the air. Recently,scientists 4havefound a very simple way of collecting these water droplets and this may well help certain parts of the world overcome their water shortage problems.