Actividad: Robert Goddard

1. 
Read the following textbook article. Pay special attention to past-tense verbs.


Robert Goddard was born in 1882. When he was a child, he became interested in firecrackers and thought about the possibility of space travel. He later became a physics professor at a university. In his free time, he built rockets and took them to a field, but they didn’t fly. When he went back to his university after his failed attempts, the other professors laughed at him.
In 1920, Goddard wrote an article about rocket travel. He believed that one day it would be possible to go to the moon. When The New York Times saw his article, a reporter wrote that Goddard had less knowledge about science than a high school student. Goddard wanted to prove that The New York Times was wrong.
In 1926, he built a ten-foot rocket, put it into an open car, and drove to his aunt’s nearby farm. He put the rocket in a field and lit the fuse. Suddenly the rocket went into the sky. It traveled at 60 miles per hour (mph) to an altitude of 41 feet. Then it fell into the field. The flight lasted 2½ seconds, but Goddard was happy about his achievement. Over the years, his rockets grew to 18 feet and flew to 9,000 feet in the air. No one made fun of him after he was successful.
When Goddard died in 1945, his work did not stop. Scientists continued to build bigger and better rockets. In 1969, when the American rocket Apollo 11 took the first men to the moon, The New York Times wrote: “The Times regrets the error.”

2. 
Fill in the blanks with the past tense of one of the words below:

fly / think / drive / be / fall / write / put / become / see

  1. Goddard interested in rockets when he was a child.
  2. He a professor of physics.
  3. People that space travel was impossible.
  4. Goddard his first rocket in a car and to his aunt’s farm.
  5. The rocket for 2½ seconds and then it to the ground.
  6. Goddard never the first moon landing.
  7. The New York Times about their mistake 49 years later.

3. 
Fill in the blanks with the past tense of the verb in parentheses ( ).

  1. The Wright brothers’ father (give) them a flying toy.
  2. They (have) a dream of flying.
  3. They (become) interested in flying after seeing a flying toy.
  4. They (read) many books on flight
  5. They (sell) bicycles.
  6. They (build) the first airplane.
  7. At first they (have) problems with wind.
  8. They (make) some changes to the airplane.
  9. They (fly) for the first time in 1903.
  10. Only a few people (see) the first flight.
  11. President Theodore Roosevelt (hear) about their airplane.
  12. The airplane was an important invention because it (bring) people from different places closer together.
  13. Thousands of people to North Carolina for the 100th (go) anniversary of flight.

4. 
If you came to the U.S. from another country, fi ll in the blanks with the affi rmative or negative form of the verb in parentheses to tell about the time before you came to the U.S. (no contractions)

  1. I (study) English before I came to the U.S. I didn’t have enough time. 
  2. I (exchange) my money for dollars before I came to the U.S.
  3. I (get) a passport.
  4. I (apply) for a visa.
  5. I (say) goodbye to my friends, I didn’t have enough time.
  6. I (have) a clear idea about life in the U.S. because I studied a lot.
  7. I (buy) an English dictionary because I didn’t have one.
  8. I (understand) English well, I was a bad student at school.