Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

FORMS haveand hasin questions.

THE PAST PARTICIPLE NEVER CHANGES IN ANY WAY

Exercise 1

Rewrite these sentences in the present perfect – the first one has been done for you.

1

Leasa’s washing the car.

Leasa’s washed the car.

2

Justine’s painting the door.

____________________ .

3

Andy and Bob are closing

the shop.

____________________ .

4

We’re not playing football

today.

____________________ .

5

We’re organising a party for

her.

____________________ .

6

Are you watching the film?

____________________ ?

7

Is Julie opening the

window?

____________________ ?

8

Dave isn’t waiting for us.

____________________ .

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Exercise 2

Now rewrite these present perfect sentences in the present continuous.

1 They haven’t ordered any

They’re not ordering any

food.

food.

2 Simon’s used the computer.

_______________________ .

3 Su and Kath have refused to

come.

_______________________ .

4 Have you looked for the

paper?

_______________________ ?

5 Has Rosemary left?

_______________________ ?

6 Have the children come in?

_______________________ ?

7 Has anyone used this cup?

_______________________ ?

8 I haven’t bought any food.

_______________________ .

9 Ann’s sold her house.

_______________________ .

10 Has Jenny phoned the

office?

_______________________ ?

Dialogue 2

Later, Shamira and Liz are at the police station, talking to the desk officer .

SHAMIRA:

Good morning. I’d like to report a lost passport.

DESK OFFICER:

I see. Could I take your name first?

SHAMIRA:

Yes – Shamira Meghani.

DESK OFFICER:

Right. And when did you lose your passport?

SHAMIRA:

I think I lost it when I was in town this morning.

I’m sure I had it with me when I left the house, but I didn’t have it by the time we got to the supermarket checkout.

DESK OFFICER:

Was the passport in your pocket?

SHAMIRA:

No, it wasn’t. It was in my bag.

DESK OFFICER:

And did you take it out of your bag while you were in town?

SHAMIRA:

I’m not sure if I did or not. Perhaps I did, or perhaps someone stole it from my bag.

DESK OFFICER:

Which shops did you visit on your trip to town?

SHAMIRA:

Well . . . let’s see now: first I went to a café to meet my friend here and we had a coffee, then we went

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to the bank to get some money, and then we both

went shopping in the supermarket.

DESK OFFICER:

And did you go anywhere else?

SHAMIRA:

No – after doing the shopping and noticing the passport was missing, we came straight here.

[ Liz suddenly remembers something ]

LIZ:

You did take all your stuff out of your bag when we were in the bank, Shamira.

SHAMIRA:

Oh yes – so I did!

LIZ:

Maybe the passport fell out then?

SHAMIRA:

Maybe it did. Perhaps I should phone the bank and

see if they’ve found the passport.

DESK OFFICER:

Do feel free to use my phone.

SHAMIRA:

Thanks.

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Dialogue 3

Shamira phones the bank to see if they’ve got her passport.

BANK:

MegaBank Services. Good morning.

SHAMIRA:

Ah, good morning. My name is Shamira Meghani. I was in your bank earlier this morning and I’m wondering if I dropped my passport while I was there.

Has anybody found a passport, by any chance?

BANK:

Hold on a moment – I’ll check for you. [ There is a pause ] Hello?

SHAMIRA:

Hello.

BANK:

Yes, one of our customers has just handed a passport in.

SHAMIRA:

Oh, thank goodness for that!

BANK:

When exactly did you lose your passport?

SHAMIRA:

Oh, I didn’t notice until about half an hour ago, but I was in the bank at about 9.30 this morning.

BANK:

Have you lost anything else?

SHAMIRA:

Anything else? No . . . I don’t think I have.

[ The bank official prompts her a bit more ]

BANK:

Something you used in the bank?

[ Shamira looks again in her bag ]

SHAMIRA:

Oh my God! My chequebook’s gone as well!

BANK:

Yes. You left your chequebook on the counter, and the passport was inside.

SHAMIRA:

I’ll come and pick them up when I’ve taken the shopping home.

BANK:

That’ll be fine. Remember to bring some identification with you.

SHAMIRA:

OK. See you in a bit. And thanks.

BANK:

See you later.

Idioms

• We say Thank goodness, or Thank God, when we are relieved about something (when we are worried and then find out that everything’s okay)

• in a bitmeans ‘soon’

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Language point 54 – past simple

In Dialogue 1 Shamira and Liz were using the PRESENT PERFECT

because they we talking about things that had just happened a short time before. For example, Shamira said:

I’ve lost my passport

because she had just noticed this.

But in Dialogue 2 the policeman says:

When did you lose your passport?

not

‘When have you lost your passport?’

He uses the PAST SIMPLE, because he is talking about an event that happened and finished some time in the past.

We will look in more detail at the difference in use between the past simple and the present perfect in Language point 55. For now, let’s look at how they differ in form :

• with a REGULAR verb:

Present perfect

Past simple

+

she’s opened

she opened

?

has she opened?

did she open?

–

she hasn’t opened

she didn’t open

• with the IRREGULAR verbs buyand see: Present perfect

Past simple

+

she’s bought

she bought

?

has she bought?

did she buy?

–

she hasn’t bought

she didn’t buy

+

she’s seen

she saw

?

has she seen?

did she see?

–

she hasn’t seen

she didn’t see

There are three main things to notice about the past simple: 1

We use the AUXILIARY did+ BASE-FORM to make questions and negatives.

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2

We don’t use an auxiliary in statements.

3

The statement past simple form is the same as the past participle in REGULAR verbs ( -ed), but with IRREGULAR verbs it is sometimes the same ( bought, bought) and sometimes different ( seen, saw).

This means that for all irregular verbs (there aren’t too many of them, but they are used very frequently), you have to learn the past simple form and the past participle. You’ll find a list at the end of this book.