Exercise 1: Abbreviations and acronyms for International Organisations.

An abbreviation becomes an acronym if it is pronounced as if it were a word. For e.g. NASA and BRIC are acronyms while IBM and HTTP are not.

Complete the abbreviation/ acronym with the correct word.

1. NGO

Non–{{{Governmental}}} Organisation

2. NATO

North {{{Atlantic}}} Treaty {{{Organisation}}}

3. ASEAN

Association of South {{{East}}} Asian Nations

4. BRIC

Brazil, {{{Russia}}}, {{{India}}} and China

5. UNESCO

United Nations {{{Educational}}}, Scientific and {{{Cultural}}} Organisation

Choose the correct acronyms, with or without an article, to complete the sentences.

1. {{{OPEC | The OPEC}}} stands for countries in Africa, the Middle East and South America.

2. Since its foundation, {{{NATO | the NATO}}} expanded from its original 12 member states to include 28 countries.

3. The headquarters of {{{the WHO | WHO}}} is in Geneva, Switzerland.

4. {{{The UN | UN}}} was founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations.

5. Animal Alliance of Canada is {{{an NGO | NGO}}} set up for animal rights.

Exercise 2: Present perfect simple and continuous

Present perfect simple emphasises completion, while the present perfect continuous indicates the ongoing nature of an activity.

I’ve painted my house. (complete)

I’ve been painting my house. (recent activity, possibly finished)

When the present perfect is used in the negative with for and since, it is normally in the simple form. It has not rained for six months.The continuous form emphasises the length of time, usually with a time adverbial. I’ve been sitting at my desk all day.Complete the sentences with the present perfect simple or present perfect continuous form of the verb in brackets.

Example: You look exhausted. Have you been working (you, work) hard?

• 1. How long {{{have you known}}}

(you, know)

 about the problem?

• 2. My brother is an actor. He {{{has appeared}}}

(appear)

 in several films.

• 3. I {{{have been waiting}}}

(wait)

•  here for you for hours. What {{{have you been doing}}}

(you, do)

 all this time?

• 4. This is the first time I {{{have had}}}

(have)

 a free moment today.

• 5. I hear that you {{{have been looking}}}

(look)

•  for a new apartment. {{{Have you found}}}

(you, find)

 one yet?

• 6. Where have you been? {{{Have you been playing}}}

(you, play)

 tennis?

• 7. I {{{haven’t read}}}

(not read)

 the newspaper for ages.

• 8. I {{{have known}}}

(know)

•  her for many years, but we {{{have only been going out}}}

(only, go out)

 together since March.

Exercise 3: Participle clauses

We can use present participle (-ing) to show:

• an action which happens just before another or almost at the same time. Taking off his shoes, he walked into the house.
• with certain time conjunctions e.g. after, before, while, since, on, etc. Since leaving school, he has had three jobs.
• to show result of an action. He narrated the shocking tale, triggering genuine fear among the listeners.

A past participle (-ed) can be used to refer to a previous event in the passive. The rebellion crushed, the guards then set up a cell system.The perfect participle shows an action which happens before the action in the main clause. Having put the gun in the desk drawer, she left the cabin.Rewrite the sentence so that it contains a present participle, past participle or perfect participle form of the verb underlined.