DIPLOMACIA 360

INGLS

AULA 04

IRBR CLIO - Mdulo: Dilpomacia 360 Lngua Inglesa - Prof: Anthony Rosenberg
Aula 4 Verb Tenses: Past Simple, Continuous, Perfect

I Past Simple

In the early 1990s, Brazil impeached the president for embezzlement.

Some survivors sought compensation after 9/11.
Land was traded for knickknacks when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil.

Important Time References

Past Overlap with the present
Last year in the last year
In the last years in the last few years
Last month in the past month
Yesterday since yesterday
Three days ago for the last three days
Early the latest
First the most recent
Initial

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The Wright family story parallels many threads and movements in American history. The Wrights took part
in the initial European settlement of North America, the fight for independence from Great Britain, and the
expansion of the young United States on the western frontier.
Wilbur and Orvilles parents and grandparents were active in the major social reform movements of the 19th
century; these included the abolition of slavery, temperance, and womens rights. Samuel Wrights great-
great-grandson, Dan Wright, was born in Connecticut in 1757 and served in the Continental Army during the
American Revolution. He fought in the Battle of Saratoga. After the war, he earned a living as a carpenter
and a farmer. Besides this, he took part in the rapid American expansion and settlement of the western
frontier. In 1814, he and his family settled on a farm near Centerville, Ohio, just south of Dayton.

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Past Continuous

The stock market was gaining ground when they announced the budget.
Reports affirmed that debris was flying through the air during the cyclone.

A continuous action in the past interrupted by another action.

A report on something that was happening. (reporting verbs)

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Choose the best option in each case.

During my deployments in Iraq there were/were being often rumors that certain soldiers took/were
taking steroids because of their sudden increase in physical size. When the unit was deployed, these
soldiers looked/were looking no different from the average soldier, but, once in place, they
looked/were looking Rambo-esque. Some soldiers felt/were feeling that others got/were getting
away with steroid use. This is because these soldiers were rarely seen in the gym and drug testing through
urinalysis was rarely/was rarely being carried out. Moreover, I believe that although the military
tested/was testing for drugs like cocaine and marijuana in Iraq, tests for steroids were/were being
conducted with less frequency.

Past Perfect Simple

He estimated that the introduction of vaccines had helped prevent 100 million cases of serious childhood
diseases.
It was basically a civil war between some disorganized Muslims and the secularist Communists, who had
introduced women's rights only years earlier.
Their results were very conclusive, showing that a significant portion of the glaciers had melted due to
human activity.

Past perfect is used to show a sequence of actions. The first action is in the past perfect.

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Choose the best option in each case.

The Irish rebellion Oliver Cromwell suppressed in 1649 was/had been the later stage of an uprising that
was/had been underway since 1641. In 1641, some 40 years after the great rebellion of the earl of
Tyrone, the Irish rose/had risen in revolt. When the first uprising ran/had run its course, the rest of
Ireland exploded/had exploded in uproar. Some 3,000 English and Scottish settlers were killed/had
been killed in the initial uprising. The numbers were inflated/had been inflated by Parliament to make
it look as though hundreds of thousands were slaughtered/had been slaughtered. This was/had
been as a propaganda ploy that was designed/had been designed to prevent King Charles I from
making peace and using the Irish against Parliament during the Civil War.

Past Perfect Continuous

Enthusiasts had been waiting for the arrival of the royals for hours when the visit was cancelled.
Scientists were relieved as they had been expecting the experiment to fail once again.
Beatty's family had been trying to locate him for 9 years to tell him that he had inherited several
thousand dollars.

Choose the best option in each case.

Multiple blasts and bombings in the Indonesian capital on Thursday killed/had killed seven people,
including five attackers. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says that experts and authorities were
expecting/had been expecting deadly attacks since the Jakarta bombing. Islamic State militants
claimed/have claimed responsibility for the attack. Indonesia was/had been on a high alert for a
potential terrorist attack since Christmas, and on Thursday the devastating moment came/had come.
Jakarta Police Chief Tito Karnavian praised/had praised the security effort saying that, after the explosion
took place/had taken place, it took/had taken just four hours to bring the situation under control. But
there was/had been, at times, confusion over whether the standoff with the perpetrators ended/had
ended. Access was given/had been given to the public when loud explosions and gun fire were
heard/had been heard again. The Indonesian President toured/had toured the site shortly after it was
cleared/had been cleared, urging Indonesians not to be afraid.

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Mark the questions correct (C) or incorrect (E)
1 The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, promoted by
2 President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Tennessee Senator
3 Albert Gore, Sr., paved the way for the Interstate
4 Highway System still in use today. President Eisenhower
5 had been interested in better highways. He
6 experienced /had experienced numerous travel
7 hazards as part of the U.S. Armys first motor convoy on
8 the Washington, D.C. to San Francisco in 1919. He had
9 seen the advantages of Germanys autobahn during
10 World War II. Locally, Chattanoogas Mayor Rudy Olgiati
11 had done public works during his military service, and,
12 due to this, he had a vision of how the areas
13 transportation could be improved. In May, 1955, a year
14 before the Interstate Highway System was authorized,
15 Mayor Olgiati and other city leaders had been discussing
16 a freeway plan for Chattanooga. Their ideas were soon
17 folded into the Interstate plan, guaranteeing that the
18 highways would pass through Chattanooga.
( ) On line 5, the adverb long could be placed
before the word had with no grammar mistake.
( ) On line 6, the best option is experienced.
( ) In the sentence He had World War II. (l. 8-
10), the verb tense suggests that Eisenhower was using
old highway designs from Europe to design US
roadways.
( ) In the sentence Locally, be improved. (l.
10-13), Rudys vision was the source of his success in
the war years.
( ) On line 15, the phrase had been discussing
could be changed to were discussing without
changing the meaning.
( ) On line 17, the word guaranteeing could be
replaced with which had guaranteed with no
grammar mistake or change to meaning.