Present Perfect vs. Past Simple



Complete the following sentences with the verbs in parenthesis:



1. You __________________ (study) five verb tenses so far.

2. The wind ___________________ (blow) very hard last night.

3. We don't have that old painting anymore. We __________________ (sell) it to a friend of ours.

4. Some of the guests ____________________ (arrive) rather late.

5. Unfortunately Joe ____________________ (fail) his driving test.

6. Her parents _____________________ (get) married in August 1987.

7. This is the most difficult text I _____________________ (ever/translate).

8. I ___________________ (buy) this funny-looking umbrella at the stadium.

9. He ____________________ (work) for that company for five years.

10. The manager _____________________ (be) extremely busy lately.

11. Mr. Peters is not here. He _____________________ (go) to London for the weekend.

12. I don't think I _____________________ (read) this novel before.

13. Somebody _____________________ (steal) Kevin's bike yesterday.

14. I ___________________ (learn) this trick when I was in college.

15. The children _______________________ (not/finish) breakfast yet.

16. Deborah _____________________ (live) in this house with her parents all her life.

17. Our next-door neighbors are going to move from their apartment. I _____________________ (just/find) out about it.

18. A prisoner ______________________ (escape) from the jail bus, but the police _____________________ (catch) him now.

19. You ______________________ (make) quite a lot of mistakes on your last grammar test.

20. We ______________________ (learn) a lot of interesting things since we ___________________ (start) this course.

21. My grandfather _____________________ (live) in Bucharest all his life. He ____________________ (die) at the age of eighty.

22. I _____________________ (have) that car from 1996 to 2001 but I _____________________ (never/drive) at night.

23. Mr. Smith ______________________ (be) our representative in the Senate for many years.

24. I ______________________ (read) the sentences three times before I ____________________ (hand) in the paper.

25. This month the children ______________________ (see) four movies at Hollywood Multiplex.

26. I didn't know you _____________________ (be) Andrew's cousin.

27. The earthquake _____________________ (do) a lot of damage to some of the buildings.

28. It ____________________ (take) me one hour to get to work this morning.

29. My friend Steve is in the hospital; he ___________________ (break) his leg while playing football.

30. We ____________________ (have) a lot of trouble with our car lately.

31. John Grisham ______________________ (write) almost twenty novels. He _____________________ (publish) his first novel in 1984.

32. I'm very surprised at him. He ____________________ (never/lie) to me before.

33. I _____________________ (always/want) to visit the Great Pyramids.

34. James is quite upset. He _____________________ (just/break) up with his girlfriend.

35. We ____________________ (stay) at home since he __________________ (not/invite) us to the party.

36. The weather_____________________ (be) extremely hot recently. It ____________________ (not/rain) for several weeks.

37. We ___________________ (wait) for her, but she ____________________ (never/come).

38. I __________________ (talk) to our lawyer about this a minute ago, and he __________________ (sound) quite confident about it.