Class 9 Tenses Gap Filling Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate form of the verb.

Doris Lessing, the British novelist ……………………….. (win) the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature. Her novels ……………………….. (be) deeply autobiographical and reflect her deep feminist engagement with major social and political issues.

Doris Lessing ……………………. (be) born on 22 October 1919 to British parents in what was then known as Persia (now Iran ) as Doris May Taylor. In 1925 the family ……………………… (move) to a farm in Zimbabwe (the Rhodesia) hoping to improve their income. At the age of seven, she …………………….. (send) to a convent boarding school but was later moved to a girls’ school in Salisbury. At 14 she independently …………………….. (end) her formal schooling.

In the 1945s Doris …………………… (get) involved with the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party. Doris married Gottfried Lessing in 1945. When the couple ………………………… (divorce) in 1949, she took their son and moved to London. Doris quickly ……………………….. (establish) herself as a writer. Between 1952 and 1956 she was a member of the British Communist Party and was active in the campaign against nuclear weapons. Because of her criticism of the South African regime, she ………………………… (prohibit) entry to that country between 1956 and 1995. After a brief visit to Southern Rhodesia in 1956, she …………………………. (ban) there as well for the same reason.

Answers

Doris Lessing, the British novelist won (use the simple past to talk about a completely finished event or situation) the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature. Her novels are deeply autobiographical and reflect her deep feminist engagement with major social and political issues.

Doris Lessing was born on 22 October 1919 to British parents in what was then known as Persia (now Iran) as Doris May Taylor. In 1925 the family moved to a farm in Zimbabwe (the Rhodesia) hoping to improve their income. At the age of seven, she was sent (use a passive verb here) to a convent boarding school but later moved to a girls’ school in Salisbury. At 14 she independently ended her formal schooling.

In the 1945s Doris got involved with the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party. Doris married Gottfried Lessing in 1945. When the couple divorced in 1949, she took their son and moved to London. Doris quickly established herself as a writer. Between 1952 and 1956 she was a member of the British Communist Party and was active in the campaign against nuclear weapons. Because of her criticism of the South African regime, she was prohibited (use a passive verb here) entry to that country between 1956 and 1995. After a brief visit to Southern Rhodesia in 1956, she was banned there as well for the same reason.