Exercise 29. Comment on the use ot the Present Indefinite, Present Continuous, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous.

1. Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed. (Maugham) 2. You probably haven't seenher since those summer holidays when Mum and Dad were abroad. (Christie) 3. Gerald, if you are going awaywith Lord Illingworth, go at once. Go before it kills me: but don't ask me to meet him. (Wilde) 4. There's the car. Arnold's come back. I must go and bathe my eyes. I don't want them to see I've been crying. (Maugham) 5. I am seeingthe other nurse, Nurse O'Brien, to-day. (Christie) 6. As she turns to go, she finds that Bella has enteredand is staringat her and her father with impassive hatred. (Gow and D’Usseau) 7, Bella is a Negro woman of fifty who has beenin the Langdon home for twenty-four years and thus occupies a favored position. (Gow and D’Usseau) 8. "You are beingvery absurd, Laura," she said coldly. (Mansfield) 9. When I've taken off my things we shall go into the next room and have tea. (Mansfield) 10. I'm always doing things on the spur of the moment to ray own inconvenience and other people's. (Maugham) 11. He has all the virtues. Dr. Ramsay, Miss Glover, even Mrs. Branderton have been drumminghis praise into my ears. (Maugham) 12. Fatty came over to Lanny's table. A fat, cheerful Greek with laughing wrinkles at the sides of his eyes. "You're alone to-day," Fatty said. Lanny nodded and lit a cigarette. "I'm leavingto-night." "Leaving?" "Yes, Fatty. I'm goinghome to the Karroo." (Abrahams) 13. D'you know that Robert Qldham and Caroline have beenmadly in love with one another for the last ten years? They've waitedall this time, and now at last Caroline is free. (Maugham) 14. This will be the death of her when she hears it. (Dreiser) 15. You have told my learned friend that you have knownMr. Pickwick a long time. (Dickens) 16. He is always breaking the law. (Shaw) 17. "It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister," said Miss Jemima. "Sambo, the black servant, has just rung the bell." (Thackeray) 18. She doesn't likeme... She's always saying sharp things to me. (Christie) 19. "I think you are beingvery wise. A complete holiday, a complete rest, that is what you need. Have you decided where you are going?" "I've changedmy mind," I said. "I don't think I'm doind awayafter all." (Murdoch) 20. Ah, Miss Marple. Good morning. Glad you've come. My wife's been ringingyou up like a lunatic. (Christie) 21. A woman never acknowledges such a nondescript age as forty-eight unless she is goingto marry a widower with seventeen children. (Maugham) 22. "By the way, you've been talkingabout me. I see it written in your faces. Your silence tells me all. I could even guess what you've been saying..." "You've been listening," Gladys cried, making a face at him. (Priestley) 23. You are beingfar too romantic about it. (Hilton) 24. "Do you like me at all, Bertha?" he asked. "I've been wanting to ask you ever since you came home." (Maugham) 25. Years have passedsince we began this life. (Dickens) 26. I've been makingsome sandwiches. Won't you come up and have some? (Christie) 27. I cannot imagine why I've livedthirty years with a man I dislike so much. (Maugham) 28. "Antonia has been tellingme about your flat," said Rosemary. "It sounds ideal. And there's a heavenly view over to Westminster Cathedral." (Murdoch) 29. We've been goingto pictures about twice a week ever since. (Maugham) 30. I've flowna kite every Saturday afternoon ever since I was a kid and I'm goingto fly a kite as long as ever I wantto. (Maugham) 31. I know this is an old story, I don't understandit myself and if I set it down in black and white it is only with a faint hope that when I have writtenit I may get a clearer view of if. (Maugham) 32. Who is comingto tea? (Wilde) 33. "I don't know what's been the matter with me. I've beenso miserable, Eddie..." "You've been crying." (Maugham)

Exercise 30. Insert the Present Indefinite, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, or Present Perfect Continuous.

1. I __ the bell for the last quarter of an hour, (to ring) (Maugham) 2. I want to see how much he __ since I saw him last, (to change) (Voynich) 3. __ you __ any word from her since she left here? (to have) (Dickens) 4. I don't want to take a cure at all. I am perfectly happy. All my life I __ perfectly happy. (to be) (Hemingway) 5. Signora Grassini greeted Gemma affectionately, exclaiming in a loud whisper: "How charming you __ tonight!" (to look) (Voynich) 6. Here's my keys. I __ (to leave) (Gow and D’Usseau) 7. I __ to Mr. Boldwood since the autumn. I want to explain. I __ to do it ever since I returned, (to speak — nej»tive, to long) (Hardy) 8. I requested them to suspend their decision until they. __ my narrative, (to read) (Collins) 9. Wait till you __ Moose and __ with him. (to see, to talk) (Aldridge) 10. "But what __ we __ ?" she asked. "I __ about it a lot. I __ about it all week. But 1 __ what to do." (to do, to think, to think, to know — negative) (Caldwell) 11. I muet not let my eyes get all red and swollen, or Henry'll know I __ (to cry) (Maugham) 12. The sun __ with different degrees of heating power in different parts of the world, (to shine) 13. "Look," I said, "I __ Francis very well. I __ him since we were very young men." (to know,! to know) (Snow) 14. "Well, I __ that Iris isn't going to be married," I said after a while, (to hear) (Maugham) 15. He says he __ to the same tunes for fifteen years, (to listen) (Maugham) 16. Cesare you and I __ friends for all these years, and I __ never __ you what really happened about Arthur, (to be, to tell) (Voynich) 17. What are we going to say to the king when he __ ? (to come in) (Shaw 18. "Dear little Hans," cried the Miller, "I am in great trouble. My little boy __ off a ladder and __ himself." (to fall, to hurt  (Wilde) 19. "As I __ you for the past six months," he said, "business is bad." (to tell) (/. Shaw)20. "This other gentleman," cried Mr. Pickwick, "is, as you will see when you __ the letter... a very near relative, or I should rather say a very particular friend of your son's." (to read) (Dickens) 21. Maude: You __ both ; __ forward to this moment ever since you met one another. Carol ine: And now it __ (to look, to come) (Maugham) 22. But you ought to have been telling your tale. Now you begin and when you __, we'll go back and see what __ really __ (to finish, to happen) (Priestley) 23. What __ you. __ with yourself since I've been away? (to do) (Christie) 24. You __ here two weeks. __ you __ your opinion of the South? (to be, to change) (Gow and D’Usseau) 25. "1 am very hungry and tired," replied Oliver. "I __ a long way. I __ these seven days." (to walk, to walk) (Dickens) 26. My good man, Signora Bolla __ head nurse in general to all of us. She __ after sick people ever since she was in short frocks, and __ it better than any sister of mercy I __ I needn't leave any directions if she __ (to be, to look, to do, to know, to come) (Voynich) 27. As Arthur mounted the stone steps leading to the street, a girl in a cotton dress and straw hat ran up to him with outstretched hands. "Arthur! Oh, I am so glad!.. I __ here for half an hour... Arthur, why __ you __ at me like that? Something __ Arthur, what __ to you? Stop!" (to wait, to look, to happen, to come) (Voynich) 28. "Mr. Bithem here yet?" asked Miss Mass. "Oh, yes, dear," cried the chorus. "He __ here for ages. We all __ here for more than an hour." (to be, to wait) (Mansfield) 29. "Are we alone now?" "The waiter __ and the door is locked." (to go) (Caldwell) 30. I __ happy. I __ always __ happy, (to be, to be) (Hemingway)