B. Exercises

1. Translate into Russian and comment on the use of the Present Perfect Continuous Tense.

1. He has been running his own business – an auto-repair shop – for 10 years already.

2. We have been working as partners since 1998.

3. How long have you been discussing your partnership agreement?

– For two hours.

4. Jack has been working in his father’s business since he left school.

5. Bill Gates is the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation. He has been managing the corporate direction for several years already.

6. I have been thinking to form a corporation since my company began to grow.

7. The Toyota Motor Corporation has been manufacturing its cars since 1937.

8. The company has decided to change the management structure. They have been thinking about it for a long time.

9. The price of cigarettes fell sharply when Philip Morris started a price war, and it has been falling ever since.

10. Uncle Charles has been making money ever since he was a boy. He’s enormously rich!

11. You’ve been living in a fool’s paradise, and now you’re busy building yourself a fool’s hell to live in.

2. Use the Present Perfect Continuous instead of the infinitives in brackets.

1. I (to wait) for you for ages. Thank heavens you are here at last.

2. Our firm (to make) biscuits ever since the reign of Charles II.

3.Since I became a shareholder I (to pay) income tax on my share of the company’s profits.

4. We (to run) our business as limited partners for twenty years.

5.Ford Motor Company (to produce) cars since 1903.

6.For two hours now we (to talk) about managerial problems and we haven’t come to any conclusion yet.

7.The firm (to suffer) losses since the death of its owner.

8.The telephone (to ring) for five minutes, why don’t you answer it?

9. Tony (to work) hard since he was elected a corporate officer.

10.The number of sole proprietorships in the U.S. (to increase) steadily for the last 10 years.

11. Your English (to improve) since I started to teach you.

3. Open the brackets using either the Present Continuous Tense or the Present Perfect Tense. Translate the sentences into Russian and explain the use of the tenses.

1. We are thinking about opening an office in Tokyo, so I (to learn) Japanese at evening classes for the last three weeks.

1. Since Peter launched a sole proprietorship he (to receive) good profits.

2. We (to sign) our partnership agreement already.

3. Mr. Jackson as the chief executive officer of Mobile Telecom (to supervise) the activities of the corporation for 5 years already.

4. How long you (to have) your own business?

5. The film company is a reasonable investment. They (to make) five very successful films.

6. Bill (to work) in his office since morning. It’s time to have dinner, but he (not to come) yet.

7. She (to read) this book for three days and (to read) 200 pages already.

8. I never (to be) in France. I (to dream) to visit France ever since I was a girl.

9. Now I (to finish) my work, please have a look at it.

10. I (to fall) in love with John since I first met him. We (to know) each other for a few months.

4. Find in the dialogues (Speech Practice ex. 3) sentences with the Present Perfect Continuous Tense and the Present Perfect Tense and explain the use of these Tenses in each sentence.

UNIT 4