Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tenses: Grandpa burns kids' things to forget past

Choose the correct answers by circling them.

Step 1:  Think if this is in the PAST (PAST TENSE) or the PRESENT (PRESENT TENSE). 

Step 2:  Draw a TIME-LINE if you are not sure.

Step 3:  Some verbs do not carry any TENSE.  Can you find them?  Why do they have no TENSE?

1.  There (is/was) nothing left to remind him of the two grandchildren he (loses/lost).
2.  After their deaths, he (burns/burned) their toys and drawings.
3.  He even (throws/threw) away photographs of the children in happier times.
4.  Madam Ong Lay Choo's father, who (wants/wanted) to be known only as Mr Ong, (says/said) that he didn't want to be (remind/reminded) of the past.
5.  But there (are/were) some memories that (will/would) never fade.
6.  Like how they (like/liked) to write English and Chinese words, how Cheryl (will/would) dance and sing in his home, and how her brother, Xavier, (dreams/dreamed) of becoming a police officer.
7.  He (remembers/remembered) them fondly, a smile (came/coming) across his face as he (describes/described) them as obedient and intelligent children.

(1) is , lost  (2) burned  (3) threw  (4)  wanted  , said  , reminded (5) are , will  (6) liked, would, dreamed  (7) remembers, coming, described

8.   (Speak/speaking) to The New Paper as his flat in Ang Mo Kio yesterday, Mr Ong (says/said) in Mandarin: "They (listen/listened) to me whenever I talked to them.  They used to (hug/hugged) me.
9.   "Anyone who (sees/saw) them would love them."
10.  Xavier and Cheryl used to go to his home every day, and he would look after them when their parents (are/were) at work, said Mr Ong.
11.  It was his home where they (start/started) learning how to talk, and where they (take/took) their first steps, he said, (stared/staring) wistfully at his other grandchildren (played/playing) in the flat.
12.  Mr Ong, who (has/had) four other grandchildren, said: "I still (miss/missed) them.  It's no use talking about it now." 
13. So, whenever the memories (come/came) back to haunt him, he (tells/told) himself: "The dead won't come back."

(8) Speaking, said, listened, hug (9) saw (10) were (11) started, took, staring, playing (12) has, miss (13) come, tells


14.  That (is/was) the same advice he gave his daughter, who (goes/went) home on Nov 7, 2009 to find her children and husband dead.
15.  Madam Ong (has/had) been coping well, he said.
16. "She's strong.  She's working.  She (doesn't/didn't) cry so much now," he added.
17.  Mr Ong said that he (sees/saw) his daughter only two or three times a month as she (does/did) not live with him.

(14) was ,went (15) has (16) doesn't (17) sees, does


18.  He (has/had) never gone to the flat where the tragedy (unfold/unfolded), (said/saying) : "I don't want to think about how my grandchildren (die/died) ."
19.  With time, the pain (has/had) subsided, but the wounds (are/were) still raw.
20.  When (ask/asked) about whether he was angry at his son-in-law, he retorted: "If it (was/were) you, how would you feel?"
21.  Then, he (falls/fell) back into a sullen silence.
22.  When told that the coroner's inquiry into the deaths of the cildren and their father was held yesteday, Mr Ong said: "I'm relieved that it's over, but my grandchildren (can/could) never come back."

(18) has , unfolded, saying (19) has, are (20) asked, were  (21) fell (22) can

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Henry David Thoreau