Read the following texts and fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of

the verbs given in brackets (tense, aspect, voice, mood). Use appropriate
modals and negation only where indicated. Be sure to put the given adverbs
in the correct position.
a) Taken from: The Best a Man Can Get by John OFarrell
I found it hard working really long hours when I was my own boss. The boss
________kept_______ (keep) _______giving________ (give) me the afternoon off.
Sometimes he _______gave________ (give) me the morning off as well. Sometimes he
______said________ (say), Look, you _______have worked________ (work) pretty hard
today, why ________don't you take_______ (not take, you) a well-earned rest tomorrow.
If I _______overslept________ (oversleep) he never _______rang________ (ring) me
________to ask_______ (ask) where I _______was________ (be); if I ________was_______ (be)
late to my desk he always _______happened________ (happen) _______to turn up________
(turn up) at exactly the same time; whatever excuse I _______came up with________
(come up with), he always _______believed________ (believe) it. _______Being________
(be) my own boss ________was_______ (be) great. ________Being_______ (be) my own
employee ________was_______ (be) a disaster, but I never _______thought about________
(think about) that side of the equation.
On this particular day I _______was woken________ (wake) by the sound of children. I
_______knew________ (know) from experience that this _______meant________ (mean) it
_______was________ (be) either just before nine oclock in the morning, when children
_______started________ (start) _______arriving________ (arrive) at the school over the
road, or around quarter past eleven mid-morning playtime. I _______rolled________
(roll) over ________to look_______ (look) at the clock and the little numbers on my radio
alarm _______informed_________ (inform) me that it _______was________ (be) 1:24.
Lunchtime. I _______had slept_________ (sleep) for fourteen solid hours, an all-time
record.
I _______called________ (call) it my radio alarm, though in reality it
________served_______ (serve) only as a large and cumbersome clock. I _______had
given up________ (give up) _______using________ (use) the radio alarm function long
before, after I _______had kept________ (keep) _______waking up________ (wake up) with
early morning erections to the news that famine _______was spreading________
(spread) in the Sudan or that Princess Anne ________just had_______ (have, just) her
wisdom teeth out. Its amazing how quickly an erection ________can disappear_______
(modal: general possibility, disappear). Anyway, alarm clocks are for people who
_______have________ (have) something more important _______to do________ (do) than
________sleeping_______ (sleep), and this was a concept that I _______struggled________

(struggle) _______to grasp________ (grasp). Some days I _______woke up________ (wake

up), _______decided________ (decide) that it _______wasn't________ (not be) worth
_______getting________ (get) dressed and then just _______stayed________ (stay) in bed
until, well, bedtime. But it _______wasn't________ (not be) apathetic, whats-the-pointof-getting-up lying in bed, it ________was_______ (be) positive, quality-of-life lying in
bed. I ________resolved_______ (resolve) that leisure time _______should involve________
(modal: suggestion, involve) genuine leisure.

b) Adapted from: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

At home in Amsterdam, my father was unusually silent and busy, and I waited
uneasily for opportunities to ask him about Professor Rossi. Mrs. Clay
_______ate________ (eat) dinner with us every night in the dark-paneled dining room,
_______serving________ (serve) us from the sideboard but otherwise ________joining
in_______ (join in) as a member of the family, and I ________felt_______ (feel)
instinctively that my father _______wouldn't want________ (modal: unwillingness, not
want) ________to tell_______ (tell) more of his story in her presence. If I
_______sought________ (seek) him in his library, he ________asked_______ (ask) me
quickly about my day, or _______wanted________ (want) _______to see________ (see) my
homework. I _______checked________ (check) his library shelves in secret soon after our
return from Emona, but the book and papers _______had already vanished________
(vanish, already) from their high place; I _______had________ (have) no idea where he
________had put_______ (put) them. If it ________was_______ (be) Mrs. Clay's night out,
he _______suggested________ (suggest) that we _______go________ (go) to a movie
ourselves, or he _______took________ (take) me for coffee and pastries at the noisy
shop across the canal.
Because I _______felt________ (feel) such constraint with my father, I
_______decided________ (decide) _______to do________ (do) a little exploring by myself,
and one day after school I _______went________ (go) alone to the university library. My
Dutch _______is________ (be) reasonably good, I _______have studied________ (study)
French and German for years now, and the university _______has________ (have) a vast
collection in English. The librarians _______were________ (be) courteous; it
_______took________ (take) me only a couple of shy conversations _______to find________
(find) the material I _______was looking for________ (look for): the text of the
Nuremberg pamphlets about Dracula that my father _______had mentioned________
(mention). The library _______doesn't own________ (not own) one of the original

pamphlets, they _______are________ (be) very rare, but the elderly librarian in their
medieval collection _______found________ (find) the text in a compendium of medieval
German documents, ________translated_______ (translate) into English. He
_______had________ (have) one of those very fair, clear faces and a direct, blue gaze
you see sometimes among the Dutch. My fathers parents, in Boston,
_______died________ (die) when I _______was________ (be) a little girl, and I
________think_______ (think) that I ________liked_______ (like) a grandfather of this
model.