1. Reading
You are about to read a short paragraph extract from one of many great books written by
Arthur Conan Doyle about his famous fiction detective character Sherlock Holmes. Fill in
the following gaps with the regular verb tense in past simple.
“It can be _____________ (imagination) that my close intimacy with
Sherlock Holmes had ___________ (interest) me deeply in crime, and that after
his disappearance I never _____________ (fail) to read with care the various
problems which came before the public. And I even _____________ (attempt),
more than once, for my own private satisfaction, to employ his methods in their
solution, though with indifferent success. There was none, however, which
___________ (appeal) to me like this tragedy of Ronald Adair. As I read the
evidence at the inquest, which led up to a verdict of willful murder against some
person or persons unknown, I ____________ (realize) more clearly than I had
ever done the loss which the community had sustained by the death of Sherlock
Holmes. There were points about this strange business which would, I was sure,
have specially appealed to him, and the efforts of the police would have been
supplemented, or more probably _____________ (anticipate), by the
____________(train) observation and the alert mind of the first criminal agent
in Europe. All day, as I drove upon my round, I ______________ (turn) over
the case in my mind and found no explanation which ______________ (appear)
to me to be adequate. At the risk of telling a twice-told tale, I will recapitulate
the facts as they were known to the public at the conclusion of the inquest…”

2. Speaking
Work in pairs and practice your pronunciation regarding the regular verbs tense
in past simple and remember to pronounce the correct ending phoneme -ed. Use
the following dialogue.
Kathy: Tom, have you started your diet? I hope you haven’t gained
weight.
Tom: I boiled eggs and sliced celery for lunch.
Kathy: Have you exercised at all?
Tom: I walked 5 miles and jogged in the park.
Kathy: Have you cleaned the house? Calories can be worked off that way.
Tom: I washed and waxed the floors. I even painted the bathroom.
Kathy: Who baked this apple pie? Who cooked this ham?
Tom: When I finished cleaning, I was starved. I prepared this food for
dinner.
Kathy: Oh, no! I’ll take this food home so you won’t be tempted.
I really enjoyed being with you. You diet is great!
Tom: What happened? Somehow, I missed out on all the fun.