Exercise 189

Use the Simple past of these irregular verbs to complete the sentences:

1. do In the past we……….more business with Japanese than now.

2. grow The company…………very rapidly in its first 12 years.

3. become We……………a public company in 1985.

4. cut We………..our advertising budget because of the recession.

5. lend The bank……………us $45,000 to fund our expansion.

6. get We………….a big surprise when they made their offer.

7. take They……………a long time to make up their minds.

8. lose We…………….the contract because of a lower bid.

9. run Paula…………..the company from her home.

10. win Last month we…………….an important order from the Government.

11. meet I first …………..Roberto when we were working in Budapest.

12. make Last year our Japanese branch……..a small profit for the first time.

13. sell Greenham Products…………..its old headquarters for $46 million.

14. rise Profits………………due to an improved management strategy.

15. spend We…………….all of our advertising budget in the first six months.

16. fall Our profits …….last year, but things are looking much healthier now.

17. lead Transware, our main competitors, …the market throughout the 80^th.

18. think Our competitors…………..that we were going to increase our prices.

Exercise 190 Complete this article using the Simple Past of the following verbs.

Visit join help spend begin decide study become leave complete

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs Maria Teicher as head of quality control. Maria……………..chemical engineering at the University of Utrecht and then…………….an MBA at Claremont College. After graduating she……………….work with Chem Tech Supplies in Belgium. She……………..assistant production manager in 1989 and she………………to develop Chem Tech’s Multivit pharmaceutical range. Maria…………………the company in 1991 and…………………Volcker Foods of California as head of research and development. She……………………..two years in the United States. Last year she briefly………………..our Milan plant and was so impressed that she……………………….to return to Europe.

Exercise 191

Now think of a suitable verb in the Simple Past to complete each gap.

This morning I………………….work at a quarter to eight. I………………..a meeting with my boss at nine o’clock and then I…………………….to the production plant to sort out an assembly line problem. When I………………………back to my office I…………………a fax from Sanjay on my desk. He…………………..me to phone him with details of the Lyon conference. After that I……………………half an hour writing the production report. Then it…………………time for lunch. I………………………Christina in the canteen and she……………me that there ……………………a lot of problems in her department. She…………me if I could come to a meeting in her office to discuss the situation.

Exercise 192 Read, translate the text. Ask and answer questions.

In the late 1990s, many large companies joined to form new “mega” companies. American financial-services companies Citicorp and Travelers merged and became Citigroup. Swiss drug companies Sandoz and Ciba Geigy joined to form Novartis. And automobile makers Daimler-Benz of Germany and Chrysler of the USA merged to form DaimlerChrysler.

In many cases, mergers are successful. But there are also many difficulties. In the DaimlerChrysler merger, executives face two major management culture differences.

First, Chrysler managers recieve higher salaries than Daimler-Benz managers. So an American manager working in Germany might have a much higher salary than his German boss.

Second, Chrysler engineers, designers and marketing people work together to build and market cars. But at Daimler-Benz, engineers are in charge, and designers and marketing people don’t work together as much.

Balancing differences is not easy, and many people are watching how DaimlerChrysler solves its management culture differences.