Put the verbs in brackets into present, past or future simple. Mr and Mrs Gray live in a big city, and...

Mr and Mrs Gray live in a big city, and they have a son. His name is Pete. Pete does not like washing. One day Mrs Gray said, "I would like to live in the country with Pete next summer." So they found a small house in the country and took Pete there for a vacation. When they arrived at the house, Mrs Gray said to Pete, "We will stay here for two weeks." The boy ran into the house and fell down on the floor. He hurt his leg but kept running and looking in the rooms. When he came back, he threw his ball up and cried, "Mum! I cannot see a bath. Where is it?" "This is a very small house," his mother answered. "There are no baths here." Pete got really happy. "This is a very nice holiday indeed, Mum," he said.

Let's go through the sentences and put the verbs in brackets into the appropriate tense: present, past, or future simple.

1. Mr and Mrs Gray live in a big city, and they have a son. His name is Pete. Pete does not like to wash.

2. One day Mrs Gray said, "I would like to live in the country with Pete next summer." So they found a small house in the country and took Pete there for a vacation. When they arrived at the house, Mrs Gray said to Pete, "We will stay here for two weeks."

3. The boy ran into the house and fell down on the floor. He hurt his leg but ran further looking in the rooms. When he came back, he threw his ball up and cried, "Mum! I cannot see a bath. Where is it?"

4. "This is a very small house," his mother answered. "There are no baths here."

5. Pete got really happy. "This is a very nice holiday indeed, Mom," he said.

Here's an explanation of the choices:

• Present Simple is used for habits, general truths, and states: "live," "have," "is," "does not like."
• Past Simple is used for completed actions in the past: "said," "found," "took," "arrived," "ran," "fell," "hurt," "came," "threw," "cried," "got."
• Future Simple is used for actions that will happen in the future: "will stay."
• The verbs "to like" and "to live" in the sentence "I would like to live" are in the infinitive form after "would like," which is a polite way of expressing a wish or desire.