Ex.151 Unreal pasts and subjunctives
Put the verbs in brackets into the correct forms.
1 It's just struck midnight. It's high time we (leave)!
2 If only we (have) a phone! I'm tired of queuing outside the public phone box.
3 You (have) better take off your wet shoes.
4 He walks as if he (have) a wooden leg.
5 He talks as if he (do) all the work himself, but in fact Tom and I did most of it.
6 Father: I've supported you all through university. Now I think it's time you (begin) to support yourself.
7 I wish I (know) what is wrong with my car.
8 It looks like rain; you (have) better take a coat.
9 I wish I (ask) the fishmonger to clean these fish. (I'm sorry I didn't ask him.)
10 It's time we (do) something to stop road accidents.
11 The cheese looks as if rats (nibble) it.
12 It's high time they (mend) this road.
13 He always talks as though he (address) a public meeting.
14 He treats us as if we (be) all idiots.
15 Wife: I'd like to get a job.
Husband: I'd much rather you (stay) at home and (look) after the house.
16 If you (tie) the boat up it wouldn't have drifted away.
17 I wish you (not give) him my phone number. (I'm sorry you gave it to him.)
18 If only he (know) then that the disease was curable!
19 Suppose you (not know) where your next meal was coming from?
20 You talk as though it (be) a small thing to leave your country for ever.
21 I hate driving. I'd much rather you (drive).
22 If only I (be) insured! (But I wasn't insured.}
23 If you (not take) those photographs we wouldn't have been arrested.
24 I wish transistor radios never (be) invented.
25 If only I (keep) my mouth shut! (I said something which made matters much worse.)
26 I'll pay you by cheque monthly. ~ I'd rather you (pay) me cash weekly.
27 When someone says something to me, I translate it into French, and then I think of a reply in French, and then translate it into English and say it. ~
It's high time you (stop) doing all this translation and (start) thinking in English.
28 I said 'Sunday'. -
I wish you (not say) Sunday. We'll never be ready by then.
29 But I told you what to do. ~
I know you did. If only I (take) your advice!
30 A flower pot fell off the balcony on to the head of a man who was standing below. It was most unfortunate that he happened to be standing just there. If he (stand) a foot to the right or left he'd have been unharmed.
31 That man has brought us nothing but trouble. I wish I never (set) eyes on him.
32 Can I take your best umbrella? ~ I'd rather you (take) the other one.
33 If you (have) a peep hole in your door you would have seen who was standing outside and kept the door shut.
34 I wish I (not try) to repair it. I only made it worse.
35 If I (not have) rubber gloves on I would have been electrocuted.
36 He looks as though he never (get) a square meal, but in fact his wife feeds him very well.
Ex.152 would rather + subject + past tense
Answer the following questions by expressing a preference for а
different action.
Question: Can I write my essay on the back of an envelope? Possible answer: I'd rather you wrote it on a sheet of foolscap.
Similarly:
Can we bring our pet snake to your party? I'd rather you didn't or I'd rather you left it at home.
It would also of course be possible to answer with prefer + object + infinitive:
I'd prefer you to write it onfoolscap.
I'd prefer you to leave it at'home.
Use you in all answers.
1 Can I go by bus?
2 Can I go alone?
3 Can we start tomorrow?
4 Can I ring New York on your phone?
5 Can we sleep in the garden tonight?
6 Can we cook our steak by holding it in front of your electric fire?
7 Can we use your scissors to cut this wire?
8 Can I leave school at sixteen?
9 Can we come in late tomorrow?
10 Shall I wake you up when I come in and tell you what happened?
11 Can I clean my motorcycle in the kitchen?
12 Can I tell Tom what you've just told me?
13 Can I go barefoot?
14 Can I have a snake tattooed round my ankle?
15 Shall we paint your door pink with yellow stars?
16 Shall I ring you at 3 a.m.?
17 Shall I threaten to burn down his house?
18 Can we bathe after dark?
19 Can I park my helicopter on the roof of your house?
20 Can I put the goldfish in the bath?
21 Can we hitch-hike to Rome?
22 Can I borrow your best umbrella?
23 Will it be all right if I write it in longhand?
24 Can I leave the washing up till the day after tomorrow?
Ex.153 wish + subject + past, past perfect or conditional
Rewrite the following using a wish construction (phrases in brackets should be omitted).
1 I'm sorry I haven't got a washing machine.
2 I'm sorry I don't live near my work.
3 I'm sorry our garden doesn't get any sun.
4 I'm sorry I called him a liar.
5 I'm sorry I don't know Finnish.
6 I'm sorry I didn't book a seat.
7 I'm sorry I haven't got a car.
8 I'm sorry I can't drive.
9 I'd like Tom to drive more slowly (but I haven't any great hopes of this).
10 I'd like you to keep quiet. (You're making so much noise that I can't think.)
11 I'm sorry we accepted the invitation.
12 I'm sorry that theatre tickets cost so much.
13 It's a pity that shops here shut on Saturday afternoon.
14 It's a pity he didn't work harder during the term.
15 I'm sorry you didn't see it.
16 It's a pity you are going tonight.
17 It's a pity I haven't got a work permit.
18 I would like it to stop raining (but I'm not very hopeful).
19 I'd like you to wait for me (even though you are ready to start now).
20 I'm sorry I didn't bring a map.
21 I'm sorry I ever came to this country.
22 I'm sorry I left my last job.
23 I'm sorry I didn't stay in my last job.
24 I'd like him to cut his hair (but I don't suppose he will).
25 I'd like him to stop smoking in bed {but I haven't any great hopes).
26 I'm sorry he goes to bed so late.
27 Motorist in fog: It's a pity we don't know where we are.
28 It's a pity we haven't a torch.
29 I'm sorry I didn't know you were coming.
30 I'm sorry you told Jack.
31 I'm sorry I didn't ask the fishmonger to open these oysters.
32 I'm sorry I can't swim.
33 I'm sorry you aren't coming with us.
34 I'm sorry you aren't going to a job where you could use your English.
35 It's a pity you didn't ask him how to get there.
36 I would like every country to stop killing whales (but have no real hope of this).
The passive
Ex.154 Active to passive
Put the transitive verbs into the passive voice. Do not mention the agent unless it seems necessary.
1 The milkman brings the milk to my door but the postman leaves the letters in the hall.
2 In future, perhaps, they won't bring letters to the houses, and we shall have to collect them from the Post Office.
3 People steal things from supermarkets every day; someone stole twenty bottles of whisky from this one last week.
4 Normally men sweep this street every day, but nobody swept it last week.
5 The postman clears this box three time a day. He last cleared it at 2.30.
6 Someone turned on a light in the hall and opened the door.
7 Women clean this office in the evening after the staff have left; they clean the upstairs offices between seven and eight in the morning.
8 We never saw him in the dining-room. A maid took all his meals up to him.
9 Someone left this purse in a classroom yesterday; the cleaner found it.
10 We build well over 1,000 new houses a year. Last year we built 1,500.
11 We serve hot meals till 10.30, and guests can order coffee and sandwiches up to 11.30.
12 Passengers leave all sorts of things in buses. The conductors collect them and send them to the Lost Property Office.
13 An ambulance took the sick man to hospital. (Mention ambulance.)
14 We kill and injure people on the roads every day. Can't we do something about this?
15 Dogs guard the warehouse. The other day a thief tried to get in and a dog saw him and chased him. (A thief who ...)
16 The watchman called the police. The police arrested the man.
17 Tom had only a slight injury and they helped him off the field; but Jack was seriously injured and they carried him off on a stretcher. (Tom, who had... , but Jack, who was . . .)
18 You can't wash this dress; you must dry-clean it.
19 They are demolishing the entire block.
20 He recommends fitting new tyres. (Use should; see Exercise 157.)
21 He suggested allowing council tenants to buy their houses.
22 Men with slide rules used to do these calculations; now a computer does them.
23 The court tried the man, found him guilty and sent him to prison.
24 The hall porter polishes the knockers of all the flats every day. -Well, he hasn't polished mine for a week.
25 They are repairing my piano at the moment.
26 Passengers shouldn't throw away their tickets as inspectors may check these during the journey.
27 They invited Jack but they didn't invite Tom.
28 The guests ate all the sandwiches and drank all the beer. They left nothing.
29 Has someone posted my parcel?
30 Why did no one inform me of the change of plan?
31 Tom Smith wrote the book and Brown and Co. published it.
32 We shall have to tow the car to the garage.
33 I'm afraid we have sold all our copies but we have ordered more.
34 We will prosecute trespassers.
35 Someone stole my car and abandoned it fifteen miles away. He had removed the radio but done no other damage.
36 You must keep dogs on leads in the gardens.
Ex.155 Active to passive
Put the transitive verbs into the passive voice. Do not mention the agent unless it seems necessary.
1 They haven't stamped the letter.
2 They didn't pay me for the work; they expected me to do it for nothing.
3 He escaped when they were moving him from one prison to another
4 She didn't introduce me to her mother.
5 A frightful crash wakened me at 4 a.m.
6 When they have widened this street the roar of the traffic will keep residents awake all night.
7 They threw away the rubbish.
8 A Japanese firm makes these television sets.
9 An earthquake destroyed the town.
10 A machine could do this much more easily.
11 Visitors must leave umbrellas and sticks in the cloakroom.
12 We ask tenants not to play their radios loudly after midnight.
13 We can't repair your clock.
14 We cannot exchange articles which customers have bought during the sale. (Articles . . .)
15 We have to pick the fruit very early in the morning; otherwise we can't get it to the market in time.
The passive
16 The police shouldn't allow people to park there.
17 They are watching my house.
18 The examiner will read the passage three times.
19 Candidates may not use dictionaries.
20 You need not type this letter
21 This used to be number 13, but now I see that someone has crossed out '13' and written '12A' underneath.
22 You mustn't move this man; he is too ill. You'll have to leave him here.
23 They searched his house and found a number of stolen articles.
24 Nobody has used this room for ages.
25 They took him for a Frenchman, his French was so good.
26 You should have taken those books back to the library.
27 They brought the children up in Italy.
28 They have taken down the For Sale notice, so I suppose they have sold the house.
29 Someone broke into his house and stole a lot of his things.
30 We have warned you.
31 A lorry knocked him down.
32 They returned my keys to me; someone had picked them up in the street.
33 We had to give the books back; they did not allow us to take them home.
34 You shouldn't leave these documents on the desk. You should lock them up.
35 They handed round coffee and biscuits.
36 They have tried other people's schemes. Why have they never tried my scheme?
Ex.156 Active to passive with phrasal verbs
In this exercise most of the sentences contain a verb + preposition/adverb combination. The preposition or adverb must be retained when the combination is put into the passive. In most of the sentences it is not necessary to mention the agent.
1 The government has called out troops.
2 Fog held up the trains, (agent required)
3 You are to leave this here. Someone will call for it later on.
4 We called in the police.
5 They didn't look after the children properly.
6 They are flying in reinforcements.
7 Then they called up men of 28.
8 Everyone looked up to him. (agent required}
9 All the ministers will see him off at the airport, (agent required)
10 He hasn't slept in his bed.
11 We can build on more rooms.
12 They threw him out.
13 They will have to adopt a different attitude.
14 He's a dangerous maniac. They ought to lock him up.
15 Her story didn't take them in. (agent required)
16 Burglars broke into the house.
17 The manufacturers are giving away small plastic toys with each packet of cereal.
18 They took down the notice.
19 They frown on smoking here.
20 After the government had spent a million pounds on the scheme they decided that it was impracticable and gave it up. (Make only the first and last verbs passive.)
21 When I returned I found that they had towed my car away. I asked why they had done this and they told me that it was because I had parked it under a No Parking sign. (four passives)
22 People must hand in their weapons.
23 The crowd shouted him down.
24 People often take him for his brother.
25 No one has taken out the cork.
26 The film company were to have used the pool for aquatic displays, but now they have changed their minds about it and are filling it in. (Make the first and last verbs passive.)
27 This college is already full. We are turning away students the whole time.
28 You will have to pull down this skyscraper as you have not complied with the town planning regulations.