General Writing

¡¡¡¡We use the verb tense to indicate the particular time of an action, event or condition. When we want to describe a number of actions or events, we may use different tenses in a sentence, a paragraph or a whole composition. Necessary changes in verb tense help readers understand the relationships among various events. But if we make unnecessary or inconsistent shifts in tenses, it will cause misunderstanding. Generally, we keep one tense as the main tense and indicate changes of time by changing tenses relative to that primary tense.

1.There is a verb tense that is incorrectly used in each of the following sentences. Try to identify the mistakes and correct them.

¡¡¡¡1. I have decided to major in computer science, and I was sure that this is the right decision.
¡¡¡¡2. By the time we arrived at the airport, the rain has already stopped.
¡¡¡¡3. The young man knocks his head on the glass door of the hotel when he hurried in.
¡¡¡¡4. The doctor suggested bed rest for the patient, who had suffered from a bad cold.
¡¡¡¡5. My sister went to Tokyo 3 years ago and she had been learning Japanese since then.
¡¡¡¡6. The food that my sister is cooking in the kitchen is smelling delicious.
¡¡¡¡7. She went to the city which was far away from her home, took a room in a cheap hotel, and had spent all the following week searching for her brother.
¡¡¡¡8. Mr. Li was determined to study harder so that he will have a better chance to find a good job.

2.In each of the following groups of sentences, two verbs must be changed so that they agree with the other verbs. Cross out the incorrect verbs and write the correct forms in the space at the left.

¡¡¡¡ 1. I have been studying English since I was in junior high school. Because of my hard work, I had made much progress. Studying English enables me to enjoy American movies, read English books and listen to English songs. Moreover, as English is an international language, I will be able to talk with native speakers when I was on a trip abroad. Surely, travelling will be more interesting that way.
¡¡¡¡ 2. After finishing classes, I like walking on the neighborhood street because I could hear some common people talking about something popular such as cooking, family things, and especially the historic stories that had happened in the neighborhood. I found these people are very interesting.
¡¡¡¡ 3. I was born in the countryside far from a city. The nearest small town was about eight miles away. When I was a child, there were a lot of sparrows (Âéȸ) in the wild field. Other boys and I like to catch them. The only tools we need were a basket, some rice or wheat, a bamboo or wood stick, and a long string.
¡¡¡¡ 4. One of the things I love most about the college is that I have professors who care about me, and who loved what they do. They are excited about learning and about teaching. My professors went out of their way to help not only in class, but also in preparing for my future.

3.Fill in the brackets with the correct forms of the verbs given in the brackets.
¡¡¡iIt is good for students to try some part-time jobs while studying at college. First, by doing part-time jobs, a student can learn how to be responsible. As an employee, a student has to go to work on time. If he 1 (start) his work at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, he must get up early. It doesn't matter if he 2 (stay) up studying or went to a party the night before. Also, he has to learn how to do his work carefully and diligently if he does not want to lose the job. Second, a student 3 (get) to know the value of money through part-time jobs. Many students 4 (depend) on their parents for money, but they do not know how hard their parents have worked to support their study. When a student 5 (try) to make money by himself, he will realize that "money doesn't grow on trees." Third, a part-time job 6 (enable) students to learn how to work together with others. Usually, a job requires the efforts of different members of a working team. In the team, everyone should learn to be helpful, to care for others and be cared for by others. 7 (work) as a member of a team will build strong character in students, and the experiences will surely help them a great deal after their graduation and 8 (benefit) them throughout their lives.