English Grammar upper intermediate

Jack _____ (live) in Boston for the past 15 years.

• has lived

• lived

• is living

• lives

Janet ____ (work) for Smith and Brothers before she came to work for us.

• has worked

• worked

• works

• is working

Dad, ____ (you/finish) reading the paper yet?

• did you finish

• are you finished

• have you finished

• do you finish

Answer explanation

Use the present perfect with "already," "just," and "yet" to speak about recent actions.

I would love to visit Prague sometime. Unfortunately, I ____ (be/never) there.

• am never

• have never been

• did never

• would never be

Answer explanation

Use the present perfect to speak about life experience.

Peter _____ (play) Tennis for five years when he _____ (be) at school.

• played - was

• has played - was

• plays - is

• was playing - was

Answer explanation

Use the simple past with a past time clause with "when"

Can you help me? I _____ (finish) my homework, but I still don't understand number seven.

• finished

• finish

• have finished

• am finishing

Answer explanation

Use the present perfect to express something that you have recently done that affects the moment of speaking.

I _____ (work) in Italy for five years. I ____ (begin) work as soon as I arrived.

• am working - begin

• work - begin

• worked - began

• have worked -began

Answer explanation

Use the present perfect for the amount of time up to the moment of speaking that you've done an action. Use the past simple to express the starting point in time

I'm afraid I'm not hungry. I _____ (eat/already).

• am already eating

• have already eaten

• already ate

• already eat

When Jack was at school, he _____ (learn) to play the saxophone. He _____ (play) it ever since.

• learned - played

• learned - is playing

• learned - has played

• was learning - was playing

Answer explanation

Always use the present perfect or present perfect continuous with "since" and something that began in the past.

Nat King Cole _____ (record) many albums during his wonderful career.

• has recorded

• records

• was recording

• recorded

Answer explanation

Use the past simple to speak about experiences of people who are not alive now.