English Assignment 3

I’m teaching English online. If you’re a native speaker, you can help out by listening/reading the passage below and answering the questions that come after it. If you’re learning, I invite you to do the same. You might find the explanation helpful.

* I didn’t have a good day today. I went to a party last night, and drank a lot. I stayed out until late. I woke up later than usual, and ran to work in my pajamas. I arrived at work late, and my boss told me off for being in my pajamas. I was so tired that I fell asleep at my desk, and didn’t write the report that I was supposed to.

* As you can see, I did a lot of things wrong. (I went to a party. I drank a lot. I got up late. And a lot of other things.)

* What should I have done differently?

Put your answers in a reply to this post! Thanks! And if you’re not sure how to answer, I’ll give a short explanation in a moment.

My answers: You shouldn’t have gotten up late. You should have used an alarm clock. You should have written the report earlier.

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Need help? Look at this:

To answer these questions, you’ll need to use this sentence pattern:

* You shouldn’t have (verb). You should have (verb).

The (verb) in each case must be a past participle. Most past participles are the same as simple past, but there are some exceptions.

Verb - Past - Past Participle

drink - drank - drunk
do - did - done
go -went - gone
write - wrote - written
get - got - gotten* (see below for more on this verb)

Thanks for listening. And if you have problems with past participles, don’t worry, they’re quite difficult. I’ve heard non- native English speakers from all over the world who can pass for natives, if not for their incorrect use of past participles. So if you have trouble, you’re not alone.