Verb Tense Exercise 5

Simple Past / Present Perfect

1. A: Did you like the movie "Star Wars?"
    B: I don't know. I have never seen that movie.

2. Sam arrived in San Diego a week ago.

3. My best friend and I have known each other for over fifteen years. We still get together once a week.

4. Stinson is a fantastic writer. He has written ten very creative short stories in the last year. One day, he'll be as famous as Hemingway.

5. I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid.

6. Things have changed a great deal at Coltech, Inc. When we first started working here three years ago, the company only had six employees. Since then, we have expanded to include more than 2000 full-time workers.

7. I told him to stay on the path while he was hiking, but he wandered off into the forest and was bitten by a snake.

8. Listen Donna, I don't care if you missed the bus this morning. You have been late to work too many times. You are fired!

9. Sam is from Colorado, which is hundreds of miles from the coast, so he has never seen the ocean. He should come with us to Miami.

10. How sad! George dreamed of going to California before he died, but he didn't make it. He never saw the ocean.

11. In the last hundred years, traveling has become much easier and very comfortable. In the 19th century, it took two or three months to cross North America by covered wagon. The trip was very rough and often dangerous. Things have changed a great deal in the last hundred and fifty years. Now you can fly from New York to Los Angeles in a matter of hours.

12. Jonny, I can't believe how much you have changed since the last time I saw you. You have grown at least a foot!

13. This tree was planted by the settlers who founded our city over four hundred years ago.

14. This mountain has never been climbed by anyone. Several mountaineers have tried to reach the top, but nobody has ever succeeded. The climb is extremely difficult and many people have died trying to reach the summit.

15. I have never visited Africa, but I have travelled to South America several times. The last time I went to South America, I visited Brazil and Peru. I spent two weeks in the Amazon, hiked for a week near Machu Picchu, and flew over the Nazca Lines.

Verb Tense Exercise 6

Simple Past / Present Perfect

Since computers were first introduced to the public in the early 1980's, technology has changed a great deal. The first computers were simple machines designed for basic tasks. They didn't have much memory and they weren't very powerful. Early computers were often quite expensive and customers often paid thousands of dollars for machines which actually did very little. Most computers were separate, individual machines used mostly as expensive typewriters or for playing games.

Times have changed. Computers have become powerful machines with very practical applications. Programmers have created a large selection of useful programs which do everything from teaching foreign languages to bookkeeping. We are still playing video games, but today's games have become faster, more exciting interactive adventures. Many computer users have also gotten on the Internet and have begun communicating with other computer users around the world. We have started to create international communities online. In short, the simple, individual machines of the past have evolved into an international World Wide Web of knowledge.