Josina Machel Secondary School
Exercises Handout
Covers Unit 1 of the programme.
Grade: 12;
Subject : English
1. Adjective Formation (-y, -less, -al, -able, -ful, -ive, -ing, -ous, -ent and –ed)
E.g. –able/ible: understandable/ incredible
a) Make adjectives from the following words. Use the suffixes (endings) given in bracket above. Use a
bilingual dictionary to find the meaning of each adjective you have made. E.g. Nature – Natural
 sleeve _______________
execute __________________
 attract_______________
mathematics___________________
 help_________________
eat_________________
 chemistry_____________
peace_______________
 danger_______________
chock_______________
 hope_________________
appeal_______________
 operation_____________
retreat________________
 interest_______________
mystery________________
b) Write the correct form of the adjective of the word in CAPITALS in the blank space









Be sure to contact him if you need advice. He's a very ____________person. (HELP)
It was a really _____________ party. Thanks for inviting me. (ENJOY)
She was very ______________ when they offered her the new job. (HAPPINESS)
This is an ________________ book we’re ______________.(INTEREST)
In order for the medicine to be __________you must take the correct amount. (EFFECT)
HIV is _________________(TREAT) but it isn’t ______________(CURE).
Magnesium is a _____________(CHEMISTRY) element with the symbol Mg and
__________(ATOME) number 12.
Enjoy lifetime ownership of a luxury home for an________________price. (AFFORD)
How __________________ is hygiene to public health? (IMPORTANCE)
I’m _____________. I don’t understand. The instructions are really ____________.(CONFUSE)
2. Question Tags
a) Put the following question tags in to the correct gaps. Each question tag is used only once.
isn't it?, has he?, were you?, aren't you?, doesn't he?, do you?, is she?, didn't you?, did she?









She didn't watch the film last night, ________
It's great to see each other again, __________
He comes every Friday, _________
You're married, __________
You went to Tom's last weekend, _________
You don't like tripe, ___________
She isn't much of a cook, ________
He hasn't lived here long, ________
You weren't invited to the party, __________
b) Choose the correct question tags:
1. You wanted that, .......... ?
A. would you
B. didn't you
C. wouldn't you
2. He saw that .......... ?
A. is he
B. won't he
C. didn't he
3. He wil be coming .......... ?
A. is he
B. did he
C. doesn't he
4. He is suffering from yellow fever he needs to see a doctor..........?
A. doesn't he
B. did he
C. won't he
5. You may think you know the answer but you don't .......... ?
A. don't you
B. would you
C. wouldn't you
6. You had seen it before, .........?
A. had you
B. had you seen
C. hadn’t you
7. Everybody looked so miserable, ........?
A. didn’t he
B. Didn’t everybody
C. didn’t them
8. Come here and hear what Mike has to say, ____________________?
A. will you
B. don’t you
C. shall we
9. I never said I love him, ____________________ ?
A. didn’t I ever
B. didn’t I
C. did I ever
10. The old lady’s stolen the money, __________________ ?
A. isn’t she
B. doesn’t she
C. hasn’t she
c) Write a question tag for each sentence below
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Listen to me, __________________________?
Let´s go to Polana Shopping, ___________________________?
Beto and Susan are in New York, ____________________ ?
Your brother has been away for a long time, ____________________?
This work could be done in ten minutes, ____________________ ?
One should never harm any kind of people, ____________________ ?
Nobody called for me while I was out, ____________________ ?
Beth might not come tomorrow, ____________________ ?
D. do you
D. doesn't he
D. won't he
D. is he
D. do you
D. hadn’t you seen
D. didn’t they
D. didn’t you
D. did I
D. didn’t she
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Patricia, don’t close all the windows, ____________________ ?
One must work to ear one’s living, ____________________ ?
Come here, ____________________ ?
I am late, ____________________ ?
Don’t close your book, ____________________ ?
She won’t arrive late, ____________________ ?
Let’s take a walk, ____________________ ?
We couldn’t go there, ____________________ ?
The boys had gone there by bus, ____________________ ?
It would be difficult to refuse the invitation, ____________________ ?
You will be happy to get that job, ____________________ ?
The children don’t like the dog, ____________________ ?
Go to your bedroom, ____________________ ?
Those girls seldom travel abroad, ____________________ ?
3. Adjectives: comparative and superlative
a) Complete the chart with the comparatives and superlatives:
Adjective
Comparative
Superlative
long
longer than
the longest
fast
__________________
_________________
pretty
prettier than
the prittiest
handsome
__________________
__________________
beautiful
more beautiful than
the most beautiful
ugly
___________________
___________________
thin
thinner than
___________________
fat
_____________________
___________________
fashionable
_____________________
____________________
good
better than
the best
bad
_____________________
_____________________
b) Make comparative sentences. (Short and Long adjectives)
1. English – easy – Japanese _________________________________________________________
2. Brazil – big – Argentina _________________________________________________________
3. Tom – Silly – Jerry ____________________________________________________________
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
The winter – bad – the fall ______________________________________________________
Monkeys – intelligent – cats _____________________________________________________
Football – popular – baseball ____________________________________________________
A movie – interesting – a book ___________________________________________________
Ronaldo – famous – Domingues_______________________________________________________
Marta – attractive – her sister ____________________________________________________
Johannesburg – modern – Maputo _______________________________________________
c) Read the following article and then answer the questions about the CD_ROM and the books.
Incredible, but True!!
All the information in the enormous Encyclopaedia Britannica now comes on one small disk. Which do
you prefer – the CR-ROM or the set of 30 books? Let’s compare them. The CD-ROM is smaller and
cheaper than the books. We think it’s more interesting, too, because it has video and sound – you can
hear animals, musical instruments and famous people talking. So if you think the 30 books are good, we
think the CD-ROM is better!.
1. Which is heavier?_____________________________________________________________________
2. Which of the articles is more boring? ____________________________________________________
3. Are the books bigger than the CD-ROM? __________________________________________________
4. Is the CD-ROM more expensive than the books? ___________________________________________
5. Why do the writers think the CD-ROM is better than the 30 books? __________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
d) Choose the correct alternative for each sentence. (Comparatives or Superlatives)
1. I think that’s _____ film I’ve ever seen
A. the funnier than
B. the funny
C. the funniest
D. the funnier
2. Is football the _____ sport in Chile?
A. popular
B. more popular
C. popularest
D. most popular
3. Vegetables are _____ last week
A. expensiver than
B. more expensiver than
C. more expensive than
4. I think Vladimir is _____ intelligent person in the class
A. more than
B. the most
C. most
D. the more
5. Don’t you think there are _____ things to do on hokidays than watching tv all day?
A. best
B. bestest
C. better
D. better than
6. Summer is _____ season in our country
A. the hottest
B. hotter than
C. the hot
D. hot
7. Groenland has the _____ weather of the world. It’s always raining and snowing
A. bad
B. worse than
C. worst
D. worsest
8. The Everest is _____ the Aconcagua
A. the highest
B. highest than
C. the higher than
D. higher than
9. Last week we had _____ day in Santiago, the temperature was –18ºC
A. the colder
B. the coldest
C. the cold
D. colder than
10. To fall from a motorcycle is _____ to fall from a bicycle.
A. more painful
B. more painful than C. painfuller than
D. the painfullest
11. If you suffer asthma, don’t go to Mexico City. It is one of the _____ cities in the world
A. pollutest
B. more polluted
C. polluter than
D. most polluted
12. The _____ place from Chile is Australia. It’s on the other side of the world.
A. farther
B. farthest
C. farther than
D. farthest than
13. I don’t think your bike is _____ mine.
A. fastest than
B. faster
C. fastest
D. faster than
14. Michael was _____ basketball player in the world
A. taller
B. tallest
C. the taller
D. the tallest
15. Speaking Japanese is _____writing it.
A. the easiest
B. easy
D. easyer than
C. easier than
4. The Simple Past and the Past Continuous
a) Fill in the correct form of "was" or "were"
A class trip to Jerusalem
Yesterday our class 1. ________ on a trip. It 2. ________ a trip to Jerusalem. At seven o’clock we 3.
________ still at home. Our things 4. ________ ready. At half past seven we 5. ________ at school. All
the pupils 6. ________ there. Our teachers 7. ________ there and the buses 8. ________ there, too. At
eight o’clock we 9. _______ on the buses on the way to Jerusalem. We 10.________in Jerusalem all day.
The weather 11. _______ very pleasant. It 12. _______ a long day but it 13. ________ very interesting.
At six o’clock in the evening we 14. _______ back at our school. It 15. _______ a nice class trip.
b) Write Yes/No questions to the following answers
1. Yes, we were in the park on Saturday. _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. No, I wasn’t angry about what she said. _______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3. No, he wasn’t late this morning. _____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. No, the weather was nice yesterday. __________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
5. Yes, I was in the kitchen a minute ago. ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
c) Write WH questions on the underlined words
1. ___________________________________________________
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were here last month.
2. ___________________________________________________
I was at the zoo on Sunday.
3. ___________________________________________________
Many pupils were late for school this morning because of the traffic.
4. ___________________________________________________
We were in Eilat last summer.
5. ___________________________________________________
Some apples were in the basket.
d) Fill in the passages with the verbs in brackets. Use the past simple
A minute before we ___________ (leave) Casablanca, a women _________ (get) on the plane. She
________ (not have) much luggage for an international flight. From the moment I ________ (see)
her I ________ (think) she was an interesting person. The only empty seat ________ (be) next to
me. She ________ (ask) me if she ________ (can) sit there. She ________ (speak) English but she
________ (have) a foreign accent. Later I ________ (hear) her speak French and Italian. I
________ (want) to talk to her but she ________ (not say) much the whole flight. I ________
(become) more and more curious as the trip ________ (continue). I ________ (watch) her
carefully and ________ (notice) that she ________ (have) two passports. From time to time she
________ (read) her book, but most of the time she ________ (seem) to be thinking about
something else. When we finally ________ (arrive) in New York she ________ (go) to the customs
officer. He ________ (look) quickly inside her luggage. Then he ________ (tell) her to go on. Later
I________ (meet) her at the airport. She suddenly________ (wave) to someone and________
(smile) I ________ (turn) around for a minute and she ________ (disappear).
e) Rewrite the sentences in the negative.
1. They sold postcards. → _______________________________________________________________
2. You jumped high. → _________________________________________________________________
3. Albert played squash. → ______________________________________________________________
4. The teacher tested our English. → ______________________________________________________
5. Fiona visited her grandma. → __________________________________________________________
6. He washed the car. → ________________________________________________________________
7. You were thirsty. → __________________________________________________________________
8. He had a computer. → _______________________________________________________________
9. I bought bread. → ___________________________________________________________________
10. You saw the house. → _______________________________________________________________
f) Write questions in simple past.
1. Anna / the window / open →___________________________________________________________
2. she / home / walk →__________________________________________________________________
3. you / in the garden / work →___________________________________________________________
4. you / a song / sing →__________________________________________________________________
5. she / on a chair / sit →_________________________________________________________________
6. you / the castle / visit →_______________________________________________________________
7. Jenny / the door / close →_____________________________________________________________
8. she / happy / be →___________________________________________________________________
9. Greg / to the radio / listen → ___________________________________________________________
10. the car / at the corner / stop →________________________________________________________
g) Answer the questions
Have a look at James's last week's diary and answer the questions in complete sentences. Put the time
expression at the end of the sentence.
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
football shopping meeting sing
cinema
tennis
Fri
take flowers
Sat
Sun
concert sailing
English Italian restaurant
1. When was his English course? __________________________________________________________
2. When did he go shopping? _____________________________________________________________
3. When did he take flowers? _____________________________________________________________
4. When was his meeting? _______________________________________________________________
5. When did he play football? ____________________________________________________________
6. When did he go to the Italian restaurant? _________________________________________________
7. When did he sing? ___________________________________________________________________
8. When did he go to the cinema? _________________________________________________________
9. When did he play tennis? ______________________________________________________________
10. When was the concert? ______________________________________________________________
11. When did he go sailing? ______________________________________________________________
h) Fill in the blanks with the verbs in the past continuous tense
1. John and I ...................................... (stay) in a beautiful hotel.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Kevin .......................................... (work) at home yesterday.
I ...................................... (wait) for a very important letter.
You ...................................... (walk) too fast.
We ........................................... (plan) our holiday.
The girls ............................................ (visit) their grandmother today.
She ....................................... (read) in her bedroom at that moment.
The baby ...................................... (learn) how to walk.
i) Rewrite the sentences in the negative. Use the past continuous
1. They .......................................... (buy) a new car.
2. He ............................................... (learn) to read.
3. I .................................................. ( look) for your keys.
4. We ............................................... (sell) the house.
5. They ........................................ (drink) tea.
6. You ....................................... (work) very hard.
7. Jack and Jill ....................................... (run) downhill.
8. I ....................................... (go) home that moment.
j) Write the questions. Use the past continuous
1. What /Jessica / do? ______________________________________________________________
2. Why / John and Patrick / laugh?____________________________________________________
3. What book / you / read? __________________________________________________________
4. What / we / watch? ______________________________________________________________
5. Where / they / stay? _____________________________________________________________
6. Why / we / sit in the dark? ________________________________________________________
7. Where / they / wait? _____________________________________________________________
8. What / you / sell? _______________________________________________________________
k) Answer the questions in the Past Continuous Tense using when and the verb of the
clause in brackets (see example in the box below)
When did she meet Helen?(walk along the street)
— She met Helen when she was walking along the street.
1. When did you catch that cold? (skate on a frosty day) ____________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. When did he write those nice poems? (have a holiday)____________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. When did she learn the language? (live in England) ______________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. When did she hear that song? (listen to the concert on the radio) ____________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. When did you buy that book? (read up for my exams) ____________________________
________________________________________________________________________
l) Answer the questions in the Past Continuous Tense using because and the verb in
brackets. (see example in the box below)
Why didn't you go out last night? (rain) — Because it was raining.
1. Why didn't you come to the party? (feel bad) ___________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Why did James want the pen? (write a composition)_____________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Why did they tell him to be quiet? (watch TV) __________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Why did Olga stay at home? (do the flat) ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Why didn't he stop to talk to you? (hurry to the lecture) ___________________________
________________________________________________________________________
m) Complete the text with either the past simple or the past continuous form of the ver bin bracket.
I _____________ (buy) a new alarm clock one day in Twinkle’s, when I _____________ (see) somebody
shoplifting. I’d just finished paying for my clock as I _____________ (turn) round, an elderly woman
_____________ (slowly put) a silver ashtray into her bag that she _____________ (carry). Then she
_____________ (walk) over to another part of the shop and _____________ (pick up) an expensivelooking bracelet many times. When she _____________ (think) that nobody _____________ (look), she
_____________ (drop) it into the bag. Before I _____________ (have) a chance to tell the staff in the
shop, she _____________(notice) that I _____________ (watch) her and _____________ (hurry) out.
Unfortunately for her, two policemen _____________ (walk) past at that moment and she
_____________ (run) straight into them.
n) Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple or the past continuous form.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Where _______ he ________ (go) when you _________(see) him yesterday?
The boys ________ (break) the window when they _______ (play) football.
I _______ (lose) all my money when I ________ (travel) from Prague to Budapest.
It ________ (rain) while I ________ (go) home.
When my mother _________ (clean) my room she __________ (find) all my love letters.
I __________ (stop) at a garage because my car __________ (make) a funny noise.
He __________ (think) of her while he __________ (travel) home.
The doorbell ___________ (ring) while I __________ (dry) my hair.
They ___________ (have) an accident when they __________ (come) back from holiday.
My grandmother first ________ (meet) my grandfather when he _________ (work) in the
country.
I ________ (see) him at the party. He __________ (wear) jeans and a T-shirt.
She _________ (go) to sleep while I __________ (tell) her about my boyfriend.
When I __________ (look) at him I saw that he _________ (cry).
They ___________ (clean) the house all day yesterday.
15. They ___________ (play) in the garden when it __________ (start) to snow.
o) Make Yes\No Questions in the Past Simple and Past Progressive
1. Yes, my grandmother was lying n bed all morning. She`s sick ! ___________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2. Yes, the party last night was a success. ______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. No, we weren't watching a movie yesterday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
4. No, my friends didn`t fly to Africa last year. __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
5. Yes, the children were sleeping all night. ____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
6. No, Dana didn't tell me what happened yesterday. ____________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
7. Yes, the car was making strange noises all the way home. _____________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
8. Yes, the baby ate her supper a few minutes ago. _____________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
9. No, Amir didn't borrow his father`s car when he was younger. __________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
10. Yes, Liran was playing football as his parents were playing football _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
p) Make WH Questions in the Past Simple and Past Progressive:
1. The vegetables were fresh. ________________________________________________________
2. I was sleeping in a tent yesterday night between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m . _____________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. She was tired yesterday because she worked hard. _____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Sima was knitting a new sweater when the telephone rang. _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. The building was beautiful last year . ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
6. We were doing homework when the telephone rang. __________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
7. The money was in my pocket an hour ago. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. John recognized his friend last June. _________________________________________________
9. Tom was driving to Eilat yesterday between 5:00 and 10:00 a.m. __________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10. The accident happened 10 minutes ago. _____________________________________________
11. The opera singer sang loudly. ______________________________________________________
12. We spent 50 Rands last Friday. _____________________________________________________
13. I wrote poems last week. _________________________________________________________
q) Ask the correct question:
Sarah is talking to Hanna on the phone.
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
Hanna:
Yes, I was busy when you called yesterday.
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
Hanna: No, I wasn't reading a book when Naira arrived.
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
Hanna:
Yes, I was listening to music while cleaning the bedroom.
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
Hanna: No, I wasn't watching television. I was study for a test.
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
Hanna: Yes, I watched a film in the morning
Sara: _____________________________________________________________________________?
r) Decide whether the parts in bold are in the correct tense. write the correct form when necessary
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Leopold was falling off the ladder while he was painting the ceiling.
Wendy was waiting for me when I arrived.
We didn’t go fishing because it rained.
I was seeing Scott in the park. He was sitting on the grass and he read a book.
This time last year I had holiday on Bali.
When I was getting up the TV was on.
English Group
Prepared by David Lugundu