Use the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Hello teacher,

Please check the “correct form of the verbs” in the paragraph below. Thank you.

Somehow I always have problems when I go on holiday. Every year my travel agent promises me that my holiday would be the best I ever have had. But none of the promise ever came true. This year I got food poisoning the day I arrived. It must have been the fish I ate at the hotel that evening. In the morning I felt terrible and I was seen by two doctors. I tried to explain my problem to them, but neither of them spoke English, which didn’t help. It took me most of the week to recover. And I spent three or four days for sitting next to the hotel swimming pool to read newspapers. By the time I felt better, the weather changed. But I was determined to go sightseeing and do some swimming. Unfortunately, none of the museums opened as there was a strike. I would have enjoyed myself if I stayed at home.

I have underlined the errors:

Somehow I always have problems when I go on holiday. Every year my travel agent promises me that my holiday would be the best I ever have had. But none of the promise ever came true. This year I got food poisoning the day I arrived. It must have been the fish I ate at the hotel that evening. In the morning I felt terrible and I was seen by two doctors. I tried to explain my problem to them, but neither of them spoke English, which didn’t help. It took me most of the week to recover. And I spent three or four days for sitting next to the hotel swimming pool to read newspapers. By the time I felt better, the weather changed. But I was determined to go sightseeing and do some swimming. Unfortunately, none of the museums opened as there was a strike. I would have enjoyed myself if I stayed at home.

NB: The mistakes in the second sentence may instead be this, if you also entered ‘would’ into a blank:

Every year my travel agent promises me that my holiday would be the best I ever have had.

Hello teacher,

Thank you for your help. I am trying to do it again. Please correct my mistakes.

Somehow I always have problems when I go on holiday. Every year my travel agent promises me that my holiday will be the best I have ever had. But none of the promise has ever come true. This year I got food poisoning the day I arrived. It must have been the fish I ate at the hotel that evening. In the morning I felt terrible and I was seen by two doctors. I tried to explain my problem to them, but neither of them spoke English, which didn’t help. It took me most of the week to recover. And I spent three or four days sitting next to the hotel swimming pool reading newspapers. By the time I felt better, the weather was changing. But I was determined to go sightseeing and do some swimming. Unfortunately, none of the museums was opened as there was a strike. I would have enjoyed myself if I had stayed at home.

Somehow I always have problems when I go on holiday. Every year my travel agent promises me that my holiday will be the best I have ever had. But none of the promises has ever come true. This year I got food poisoning the day I arrived. It must have been the fish I ate at the hotel that evening. In the morning I felt terrible, and I was seen by two doctors. I tried to explain my problem to them, but neither of them spoke English, which didn’t help. It took me most of the week to recover. And I spent three or four days sitting next to the hotel swimming pool reading newspapers. By the time I felt better, the weather had changed. But I was determined to go sightseeing and do some swimming. Unfortunately, none of the museums was open, as there was a strike. I would have enjoyed myself if I had stayed at home.

Dear Mister Micawber,

Thank you.

Happy to help, Hoadong.

Dear teacher,

Please explain why did you use “was open”, not “was opened” in the sentence above. Thank you.

‘Open’ is a condition, a situation throughout the day, for instance.
‘Opened’ is the action - what happens at 9 AM, for instance.

What no doubt you intend is that one could not go into the museums at any time because they were not open during the holiday.

Note that with ‘closed’, we use the same word for both perspectives: The museums have been closed all holiday. The strikers closed them.

Dear teacher,

Thank you.