ENGLISH FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION_________________________________________

EX. 1. Put the verbs in brackets in the right future form:

1. We cannot attend the meeting tonight – we are visiting our best friends.
2. According to the programme, the trial starts at 10 o’clock sharp.
3. His teachers are sure he will be a successful lawyer one day.
4. You look very tired. If you want I will finish the report for you.
5. It’s already ten to nine. The witness is going to be late.
6. I am simply exhausted. I think I will have a coffee break.
7. Look out! That file is going to fall from your desk and you will have to put all the papers in
order again.
8. We are attending the opening session of the conference on Monday. Would you like to join
us?
9. I am going to win that contest, whatever it takes!
10. Don’t worry about the meeting! I will help you to prepare the folders.

EX. 2. Choose the correct future form of the verb in the following sentences:
1. This time tomorrow they will be debating/will debate the issue in the Parliament.
2. I will have/will be having a look at your report in ten minutes.
3. You should try to find another copy of the report. I will use/will be using it until evening.
4. She cannot handle the correspondence. I will fire/will be firing her.
5. There’s no problem for me to give you a lift to the airport. I will be going/will go that way
anyway.
6. Let me break the news to her. I will be meeting/will meet her in the office tomorrow.
7. This time next week our representative will be flying/will fly to London to conclude the
agreement.
8. They will stay/will be staying here until next Friday.
9. Will you use/will you be using the computer this evening?
10.We are deeply sorry for his retirement. We will be missing/will miss him.
EX. 3. Use the correct future form of the verbs in brackets:
1. By the time you return they will have finished translating the materials for the conference.
2. He will have filed charges against you before you meet him to apologise.

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3. According to the action plan the project will end in December.

4. The Chairman cannot come tomorrow. He is seeing the President.
5. The witness will leave the premises before you can stop him.
6. She will have finished investigating the crime scene by the time the police arrive.
7. Our conference will take place after all participants are informed about the date.
8. By the end of the year the United States will have emerged as the market leader in this
domain.
9. The European Parliament will issue some new regulations after the plenary session.
10.The budgetary proposals of the commission will be considered next week.

EX. 4. Use the Past Perfect where necessary:

1. The two parties reached an agreement when the member of our group made the suggestion, so
he had to accept it.
2. The Parliament passed this law a very long time ago.
3. By the time I called the office the secretary had left.
4. When we wanted to complain about the PR officer being rude, the manager fired him.
5. Discrimination had been a current practice in the company long before she brought up the
issue.
6. They changed their policy after a group of unsatisfied clients had sued the company.
7. When they arrived the conference had begun and they did not want to disturb the participants,
so they left.
8. The chairman opened the session after everybody had consulted the agenda.
9. We wanted to help them but by the time we got there they had finished writing the
recommendations.
10.When she decided to accept the offer it was too late. Someone else had hired as an assistant
manager.

EX. 5. Choose the correct form of the verb in the following sentences:

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1. The staff complained that they had asked/had been asking for better working conditions for
two months.
2. We had hoped/had been hoping to solve our problem easily and were very disappointed when
we couldn’t.
3. Our partners had looked forward/had been looking forward to the contract to be signed and
became quite angry when it had been cancelled/had been being cancelled.
4. The whole staff had worked/had been working until the last minute and they had no time left
to decorate the room for the meeting.
5. The newspapers had been publishing/had published a lot of articles on the accident for weeks
when they found out about it.
6. We had been discussing/had discussed all day with our partners and by 10 o’clock the
agreement wasn’t signed.
7. Our competition had done/had been doing everything they could to attack us and we had to
take steps towards fighting back.

EX. 6. Rephrase the following sentences so that they contain one of the modals above:
1. If you cannot find a job in your country, you emigrate to a foreign job-rich place.
If you cannot find a job in your country, you should emigrate to a foreign job-rich place.
2. Don’t consider heading overseas to seek work without money in your pocket.
If you consider heading overseas to seek work, you must have money in your pocket.
3. Don’t go unless you are prepared to accept any job.
You ought to be prepared to accept any job if you go.
4. Sometimes you are forced to accept a monotonous job.
You might be forced to accept a monotonous job.
5. There are jobs you didn’t accept in your native country.
There are jobs you wouldn’t have accepted in your native country.
6. Later on, of course, you will have the opportunity to apply for creative work.
Later on, of course, you might have the opportunity to apply for creative work.
7. The job seeker heading overseas has to take on jobs that have been turned down flat by
natives.
The job seeker heading overseas must take on jobs that have been turned down flat by natives.

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8. To work overseas you need to obtain a work permit.

You must obtain a work permit to work overseas.
9. It is advisable you find a job for which no work permit is needed.
You should find a job for which no work permit is needed.
10.Women will be able to work au pair. Under this arrangement, any girl is supposed to get bed
and board.
Women will be able to work au pair. Under this arrangement, any girl should get bed and
board.
11.Their duty is to act as baby sitters. Their daily activity is to give general household help.
Their duty is to act as baby sitters. Their daily activity may be to give general household
help.
12.Their employers are also obliged to pay them a sum of money.
Their employers must pay them a sum of money.

EX. 7. Read the following text and change some of the sentences from active into the
passive. The italicised words will help you. Make all the other necessary changes.
Sometimes it is a real adventure not being sure if you have downloaded a virus or if it is only a
hoax. You cannot be sure whether you are alone or not: is there someone else working on my
computer or it is only me? To have more security you have to install a firewall, buy anti-virus
programmes and up-date them regularly. So, you have to spend much money only for preventing
a virus-caused break down or hacker- attacks. It is annoying not being sure if the money you
have spent will prevent all those things or if they create a new virus and a new way of hacking
into computers.
Sometimes it is a real adventure not being sure if a virus has been downloaded or if it is only a
hoax. You cannot be sure whether you are alone or not: is the computer being worked on or it is
only me? To have more security, a firewall has to be installed, anti-virus programmes have to
be bought and up-dated regularly. So, much money has to be spent only for preventing a virus-
caused break down or hacker-attacks. It is annoying not being sure if all those things will be
prevented with the help of the money you have spent or if a new virus and a new way of
hacking into computers is created.
EX. 8. Fill in the blanks with the required form of the verb given in brackets:
1. Now we’re lost! If you had taken Mr Leary’s advice, this wouldn’t have happened.
2. Don’t be afraid! If we comply with the terms of the contract, they won’t sue us.
3. Did you enjoy your meal? If you finish eating, I will clear away the plates.

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4. If the marketing assistant doesn’t notice the mistake in the marketing plan, we won’t succeed
in launching the product as planned.
5. Communication skills are essential in this job. All our PR assistants are communicative. If
they weren’t friendly we would lose half our clients.
6. There was no mistake in his report. If there had been of course I would have corrected it.
7. I’m afraid we have to take action. If we don’t punish him this time, he will only make more
serious mistakes.
8. They can’t lend us any money. But I know that if they had it, they would lend it to us.
9. It’s always the same! If you decide to leave the office early, the boss will call you after you’ve
left!
10. Last year we had the lowest turnover in our company’s history; but only because of inflation.
If we had taken the inflation rate into account, we wouldn’t have lost so much money.

EX. 9. Use as soon as, till, when, whenever, while or as to fill the gaps in the following
sentences:
1. Go on till you come to a large square with an old statue in the middle. Then turn right and
you’ll find his house on your left.
2. We’ll be glad when everything is over and we can start working.
3. They were writing the report while we were discussing the details of our campaign.
4. As they were approaching the building, they realised that they had forgotten the contract.
5. You can sign the letters whenever I am out. Let’s agree on this rule...
6. Peter hasn’t arrived yet and I need someone to help me. But you can leave as soon as he
arrives.

EX. 10. Rewrite the following sentences twice, using no sooner… than and hardly… when.
e.g. I had just sat down but the boss called me to his office.
No sooner had I sat down, than the boss called me to his office.
Hardly had I sat down when the boss called me to his office.
e.g. I opened the file and a minute later someone rang the bell.
No sooner had I opened the file, than a minute later someone rang the bell.
Hardly had I opened the file when a minute later someone rang the bell.

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