Complete the sentences with one of the following (a, b, c, d) verb forms.
1. By the time we reached the store where he was, he . half the stock.
a) bought; b) was buying; c) had bought; d) had been buying
2. I . a lot of new clothes recently.
a) am buying; b) buy; c) have been buying; d) have bought
3. The package you . for since June has only just arrived.
a) were looking; b) have looked; c) have been looking; d) look
4. We . to the opera at least six times last winter.
a) had gone; b) were going; c) went; d) had been going
5. He looked worn out because he . all night.
a) had been working; b) worked; c) was working; d) had worked
6. They. him when he tries to cross the border
a) will have been shooting; b) will be shooting; c) will shoot; d) will have shot

in ukraine and russia, a particular dragon-like creature, zmey gorynych   has three heads, is green, walks on two back paws, has small front paws, and spits fire. according to one bylina, zmey gorynych was killed by dobrynya nikitich. zmey corynych is also associated with other evil creatures  such as   baba yaga and koshey the deathless. they are the main part of any russian fairytale.  but brave and smart men like ivan the fool and others kill them and save their beautiful princess.

remember the old days, when  lebron james  had championship aspirations with the  cleveland cavaliers? before  the decision  and before dan gilbert's angry letter written in comic sans?

lebron's dominance was at a level where he actually had people believing that antawn jamison could be the missing piece to a championship team. the akron hammer got mo williams into an all-star game. oh yeah, and by playing with james, anderson varejao is now considered "untouchable." no wonder lebron took his talents to south beach.

anyone who watches the  nba, or even listens to what some of the announcers have to say, can tell you the impact that an elite player can have on his team.

prime example—lebron turned a team full of average role players into a no. 1 seed and title contenders. as soon as he leaves town, they're a team struggling to even compete on a nightly basis, landing the top pick in the nba draft. and as soon as people saw this, we all understood why lebron left.

these special players are at a premium, even in today's superstar league. and with the recent alignment of star players, very few are left on their own the way lebron was in cleveland. one of these players is due for free agency in one year. you may have heard of him:   dwight howard.

howard is an absolute monster on both ends of the floor who is as capable of taking over a game as anyone in the league. opposing teams guard him with at least two players at all times, usually with very little success. teams have resorted to recycling defenders who simply foul d12 in hopes that he won't make his free throws. given the shortage of quality big men in the league, howard's ability is even more valuable considering he gets to exhibit it against many low-quality big men.