It’s October, so Halloween is coming and it’s Spooky Season, which we are a fan of here on ELB. I’ve got lots of seasonal articles on the website, and you can find all my Halloween features here. Today I’m going to share a new mixed tenses exercise using Halloween-themed language, so we can combine a bit of vocabulary and grammar! You might particularly want to look at the nasty nouns and abysmal adjectives lists for reference.

This is quite a tricky exercise, combining and contrasting the different tenses, but I’ve given explanations with the answers.

Spooky Halloween Mixed Tenses Exercise

Complete the creepy sentences below by filling in the gaps with the correct English tense form, using the verb in brackets. I went for a broad range, testing all the main aspects of the English tenses, so we have the past, present and future listed below. This can lead to some flexibility but I’ve tried to provide sentences that make one answer most appropriate. (Note some sentences have additional words in brackets to indicate negatives or question forms.)

1. I did not sleep well because a wolf __________ at the moon. (to howl)
2. Sandy always __________ that there is a bogeyman under her bed. (to worry)
3. We __________ a pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern next week. (to carve)
4. She had a dreadful feeling that she __________ to lock the cellar door. (to forget)
5. Tony __________ a poltergeist has been moving his furniture every night. (to suspect)
6. The witch __________ in that eerie shed for almost sixteen years now. (to live)
7. When she saw her own name on a gravestone, Janice __________. (to faint)
8. I __________ in vampires, but that man looks like one. (to believe / not)
9. The children found a grisly corpse while they __________ in the park. (to play)
10. Many bizarre things __________ at the lake recently. (to happen)
11. Rupert shrieked when the clock __________ on the floor. (to fall)
12. The police __________ the otherworldly goo tomorrow morning. (to investigate)
13. Hilary and Erin are not coming to the party because they __________ two nights in a haunted house for charity. (to spend)
14. Can you close the curtains? The moonlight __________ an unnerving shadow on the wall. (to cast)
15. My biggest fear is that zombies __________ my home. (to attack)
16. Denny opened the door, thinking the pizza __________. It hadn’t. (to arrive)
17. She said she __________ afraid of spiders, but she gave a bloodcurdling scream when the tarantula appeared. (to be / not)
18. Wendy keeps waking me up; she __________ nightmares about fairies again. (to have)
19. Please take this box outside. Whatever you do, __________ inside. (to look / not)
20. I don’t remember inviting that creepy tall man. __________ him before? (to see / you)

Answers

1. I did not sleep well because a wolf was howling at the moon. (continuously)
2. Sandy always worries that there is a bogeyman under her bed. (a general rule)
3. We are going to carve / will carve a pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern next week. (a future determination; “are carving” could also work as a scheduled plan)
4. She had a dreadful feeling that she had forgotten to lock the cellar door. (a past action that happened before the feeling)
5. Tony suspects a poltergeist has been moving his furniture every night. (a current feeling)
6. The witch has been living in that eerie shed for almost sixteen years now. (an ongoing state with a start point in the past; “has lived” can also work but the continuous is more appropriate for a duration)
7. When she saw her own name on a gravestone, Janice fainted. (simple past action)
8. I don’t / do not believe in vampires, but that man looks like one. (simple present belief)
9. The children found a grisly corpse while they were playing in the park. (interrupted continuous past action)
10. Many bizarre things have happened / have been happening at the lake recently. (ongoing current events which started in the past)
11. Rupert shrieked when the clock fell on the floor. (simple complete past)
12. The police will investigate / are going to investigate the otherworldly goo tomorrow morning. (future determined action)
13. Hilary and Erin are not coming to the party because they are spending two nights in a haunted house for charity. (ongoing present action)
14. Can you close the curtains? The moonlight is casting an unnerving shadow on the wall. (ongoing present action)
15. My biggest fear is that zombies will attack my home. (future/imagined fear)
16. Denny opened the door, thinking the pizza had arrived. It hadn’t. (past event complete before he “opened” the door)
17. She said she wasn’t / was not afraid of spiders, but she gave a bloodcurdling scream when the tarantula appeared. (reported past speech)
18. Wendy keeps waking me up; she is having nightmares about fairies again. (ongoing current action)
19. Please take this box outside. Whatever you do, do not look (present rule)
20. I don’t remember inviting that creepy tall man. Have you seen him before? (past experience with present impact)

Want to master the English tenses?

Learn all the rules with The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide, and practise them with The English Tenses Exercise Book, which contains 160 exercises.