To bring in Christmas, I’ve prepared a themed reading exercise of the sort seen in the most horrible exams. The short story below (a harrowing tale of chores and presents) has lots of incomplete sentences. The verbs needed are all in brackets next to the gaps, but the form required is up to you. It is a past tense story, but it has a bit of variety in exactly what structures you will need – so don’t assume that just because it is a child’s tale it’s easy. In particular this will practice use of the past perfect. Can you help Wendy get her presents? The answers (with notes for consideration) are below

Wendy was excited. Christmas _________ (1. to come), and she _________ (2. to be) a good girl all year, so she expected many splendid gifts from Santa. Two months earlier, she _________ (3. to write) to him to describe all the toys and clothes and other important things that she would like. Yes, it _________ (4. to be) a very long list, but everyone _________ (5. to know) how magical Santa was so there should not be a problem.

Wendy _________ (6. to clean, not) the bathroom, though. Her dad had asked her to clean it, again and again, but it was disgusting in there, and it _________ (7. to get, always) messy again anyway. She never _________ (8. to like) cleaning the bathroom, and as Christmas approached they received an especially large number of guests. It was getting worse and worse.

On Christmas Eve, Wendy’s dad _________ (9. to visit) the bathroom and screamed.

“Something _________ (10. to move) in there!” he said, pointing at a pile of dirty rags. Wendy saw it, too.

“Daddy, daddy, get rid of it, please!” she _________ (11. to beg). But her father was too afraid.

Together, they went to Wendy’s mum, and pleaded with her to deal with the monster in the bathroom. She tutted at them. So silly. But when she got to the bathroom, and saw the state of the mess, and saw something move, she _________ (12. to scream) too.

She slammed the door shut and told her family, “Whatever it is, we must _________ (12. to go, not) in there.”

Everyone was too afraid to disagree. So they sealed the bathroom door and ignored the problem.

On Christmas morning, Wendy _________ (13. to rush) down the stairs and excitedly clambered under the glittering Christmas tree. The room was strangely empty, though. No stocking filled with treats, and only a handful of wrapped boxes – all labelled for mum and dad. Where _________ (14. to be) her presents?

“Well,” her father told her, “Look, Santa _________ (15. to leave) a note. It _________ (16. to say) that as you _________ (17. to complete, not) your chores, your presents _________ (18. to be) left in the bathroom. If you want to get them, you must clean up the mess.”

Wendy _________ (19. to have) no choice. If Santa _________ (20. to say) it, it had to be done.

And so she braced herself and determined to clean that bathroom. She put on gloves, took up a broom and a mop and a bucket of disinfectant and _________ (21. to charge) into the mess. It looked awful. It _________ (22. to smell) foul. It _________ (23. to feel) weird. But the mess had to go.

After a hard morning’s work, Wendy stepped back and marvelled at what she _________ (24. to do). The bathroom was glistening clean, beautiful and empty once more. And whatever had moved in there before was gone. But she realised, with the room now bare, there were no presents in there. _________ (25. to lie, Santa) ?

Wendy went back downstairs to demand an answer from her parents, ready to shout and fight and scream. She stormed into the living room, broom raised above her head, and _________ (26. to freeze). There, under the tree, was a landscape of presents. Boxes of all shapes and size, wrapped in paper of every colour. Big presents, small presents, bows, bags; all she could dream of.

She _________ (27. to be) a good girl, after all.

was coming – future in the past
had been – past perfect because her goodness for the year was complete before this story
had written – past perfect, it happened before these events
was – simple past
knows – could be past simple, as a past rule, but this sentence frames it in the present tense
had not cleaned
was always getting (or always got, but the past continuous, as an emphatic process, is stronger)
liked
visited
is moving or moved
begged
screamed
rushed
were
has left (demonstrating it is here now, although simply left could also be used)
says
did not complete (have not completed would be possible, but this action has a consequence, so it is finished and will not added to)
have been (were is also possible, but they are likely to still be there, making present perfect more appropriate)
had
had said
charged
smelt
felt
had done
Did Santa lie? (as one event) or Had Santa lied? (on this occasion)
froze
had been (referring to her actions) or was (referring to her state)

15 Comments

chi on October 2, 2018 at 15:33

Thank you very much. They are very useful for me.
- Phil Williams on October 2, 2018 at 15:42
  
  Thanks Chi, glad it’s useful!
Mala on October 30, 2018 at 13:57

It was a good piece may I have one more
- Phil Williams on November 1, 2018 at 10:30
  
  Hi Mala – I will be producing more reading exercises like this in the future, yes. Watch this space!
  - Jurate on December 21, 2022 at 12:41
    
    Thanks a lot! It was a very useful exercise! Merry Christmas!
- Sumaira on December 27, 2022 at 03:35
  
  Wow!
Verónica on March 21, 2019 at 05:41

Great exercise! Thank you for sharing! =)
- Phil Williams on March 21, 2019 at 07:02
  
  Thanks, I’m glad you liked it. I’m working on a book with many similar exercises!
Lukas on April 10, 2019 at 21:21

Please explain why you used the past perfect – “had not cleaned” in the sixth point ? Is it possible to use there the past simple ?
- Phil Williams on April 10, 2019 at 21:28
  
  Good question – in the context here the story is framed in a particular past time (Christmas Eve) and the past perfect indicates the action was not complete before this time, while the past simple would merely tell us she did not do it – most likely indicating at a specific time when she made that decision. The past simple would therefore be possible but the past perfect is more appropriate in this narrative.
Karina on December 13, 2019 at 15:15

Hello, I’m planning to give this exercise to my students but I can’t determine whether it’s suitable for their level. They are B1.1
- Phil Williams on December 13, 2019 at 15:34
  
  Hi Karina, my material is generally aimed towards intermediate to advanced level students but I think this one is fairly low intermediate so I would hope it would be okay for students at that level. Though I think some of the vocabulary might be slightly higher level.
AICHA on December 27, 2019 at 17:02

hello.thank youu so much for this exercise.it’s very ineteresting! i have a question please: in 9* can we say (had visited( because it’s the 1st action and 2nd action is screaming!
- Phil Williams on December 31, 2019 at 12:45
  
  Hi Aicha, no it wouldn’t really make sense in this case because the screaming occurs during the visit – ‘had visited’ would only really be used if the visit was completed before the other action.
Cytron Toxin on May 11, 2021 at 08:01

Thank you, It was very helpful. I had to do 30 more exercises like this one. I got most of the answers here and am willing to do more.