MIXED TENSES 002: IT WAS MIDNIGHT …
Insert the right tenses: simple past, past continuous, past perfect
It was almost midnight and 1._________( to read) a thriller. I wanted to go to bed, but I kept postponing doing it. Just one more page, 2. I ___________(to repeat) to myself from time to time. My wife and my children3. _______________(to sleep) upstairs. I was also enjoying the sweet feeling of freedom that I couldn’t enjoy in daytime.
Then suddenly there was a blackout. 4. I__________ (to check) if there was something wrong with the lamp 5. I _________(to use) but that was not the problem. It was not a stormy night, nobody was using the electric oven or the washing machine or the hairdryer or the dishwasher. No, the whole house was still and silent.
Not being able to find a rational answer, and still sitting in the complete darkness, 6. I ________(to start) feeling a bit scared. Maybe I was under the influence of the thriller, but wasn’t that a low grating at the door? Was somebody tampering with it?
7. I___________ (to listen) with intense concentration. No, there was no noise, it was only my imagination. So, what was the blackout due to, then?
Groping in the dark, 8. I ________(to find) a candle. After lighting it, I decided to call the electricity company. It was past midnight by now, but they were very kind: they said they 9. _________ (to arrive) in an hour’s time. 10. I_________ (to wait)for them sitting on the sofa, unable to read any longer.
The company 11. ___________(to request) my cell phone number, because the bell wouldn’t be working, and it was with a start that I woke up when the cell phone rang. 12. I ___________(to fall) asleep . I had perhaps been sleeping only a few minutes because I felt confused and dizzy. 13. It___________ (to take) me some time to remember the situation I was in. The phone kept ringing. I didn’t want to wake up my family so I had to stop it as soon as possible. 14. But where ___________( to put) it? I got up in a frenzy and I stumbled against the small tool I keep next to the sofa. It was a terrible pain. I limped to the door, opened it and let the electrician in. 15. I ________ (to nurse) my feet when he came back. The light 16. ________(to precede) his return and the house was again illuminated by the light of the lamp.
He explained that the culprit was an ant, or maybe more than one. 17. They_________ (to enter) the electricity meter and left formic acid on the chip. 18. That ___________(to cause) the blackout.
When I got up the next morning my foot still hurt. My wife saw me limping and said ironically: “Have you challenged a monster in your dream?”
“Well, not a monster,” I answered , “only an ant.”
