Email to a Homestay Friend
Daiki is studying English at school. His teacher asks him to choose the best word or phrase for each blank in this email to his Australian friend Emma.
Hi Emma, How are you? I (1) [ have joined / have been in ] the school tennis club for two years. Last month, we (2) [ played / have played ] a match against a team from Izumo. I was nervous, but my coach told me (3) [ to keep / keeping ] my eyes on the ball. We won! Our coach also (4) [ said / told ] us that we should practice more. Next week, we will have a practice game. I (5) [ can't wait / can't wait for ] it. Write soon, Daiki
Daiki knows the words but is not sure about tense and verb patterns. He asks: 'Does the time word decide the tense?' and 'Why does tell take one form but wait take another?'
1. Choose the correct form for blanks (1) and (2). Explain how the time expressions 'for two years' and 'Last month' decide your answers.
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(1) have been in. 'For two years' shows a state continuing from the past to now, so use the present perfect. 'Have joined' would mean the action of joining happened; it does not fit a duration. (2) played. 'Last month' is a finished past time, so use the simple past, not the present perfect.
2. Choose the correct form for blank (3) and explain the grammar rule. Then explain why blank (5) needs 'for'.
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(3) to keep. The verb tell takes an object + to-infinitive: tell me to keep. 'Keeping' would be wrong after 'told me'. (5) can't wait for it. 'Wait' is intransitive here and needs 'for' before the thing you are waiting for; without 'for', 'wait it' is not correct.
3. Choose the correct form for blank (4). Why is the other option wrong in this sentence?
Read the worked answer
(4) told. The pattern is tell + person + that-clause, so 'told us that...' is correct. 'Said us' is wrong because say does not take a person as its direct object in this way; you say something to someone. That is why 'told us' fits and 'said us' does not.