The scene of crime

THE PAST INDEFINITE TENSE

Regular verbs

Positive	Negative	Interrogative
I worked. We worked. You worked. He worked. She worked. It worked. They worked.	I did not work. We did not work. You did not work. He did not work. She did not work. It did not work. They did not work.	Did I work? Did we work? Did you work? Did he work? Did she work? Did it work? Did they work?
	I didn’t work They didn’t work	Who worked? They worked, didn’t they?

Irregular verbs

Positive	Negative	Interrogative
I brought. We brought. You brought. He brought. She brought. It brought. They brought.	Idid not bring. We did not bring. You did not bring. He did not bring. She did not bring. It did not bring. They did not bring	Did I bring? Did we bring? Did you bring? Did he bring? Did she bring? Did it bring? Did they bring?
	I didn’t bring. They didn’t bring.

Grammar Reference

The Past Indefinite Tense is used:

1. To express a finished action in the past.

· We returned to New York last Sunday.

· I worked as a paralegal 2 years ago.

· We were in London in 2011.

Note:

The Past Indefinite Tense is often used with past time expressions: last year, last month, five years ago, yesterday morning, the day before yesterday, in 1945, etc.

2. To express actions which follow each other in a story.

· James came into the courtroom. He started answering the lawyer’s questioning. Suddenly he noticed the man threatening reprisal against him.

Exercise 1

Give the English equivalents for the following regular verbs, put them into the Past Indefinite Tense and pronounce the ending [-ed] correctly.

работать, открывать, смотреть, закрывать, жить, изучать, учить, переводить, ходить (пешком), возвращаться, оставаться, продолжаться, получать, заканчивать, обсуждать, отвечать, повторять, переписывать

Exercise 2

Read and translate a lawyer’s letter to a client paying attention to the predicate in the Past Indefinite Tense:

Dear Ms. Crawly,

In response to your question, my client’s case did not go to the state courts. It went to a district court, because it was a small case and did not fall under the jurisdiction of any specialized court.

As my client did not agree with the court’s decision, the case went to an appeals court.

They had to review it because they do not have discretionary review (the ability to choose which cases to review)

Yours Faithfully,

T. Klein

Exercise 3

Read what a law-student Christine says about her typical working day:

“I usually get up at 6 a.m. and take a shower. Then I have a big breakfast. At 7.45 a.m. I catch the bus. My first class starts at 8.30.a.m. I always have lunch at 11.40 a.m. in the student’s canteen. The canteen’s food is OK and it is cheap too. My afternoon classes are from 12.15 p.m. till 3.20 p.m., so I am busy all day. It takes me about 30 minutes to get home. I am always tired when I get home. I usually do my homework in the evening. As a rule I have a lot of homework to do, so I go to bed very late.”

Yesterday was a typical working day for Christine. Write down what she did yesterday.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 4

Yesterday during questioning a suspect a young inexperienced investigator broke the following principles of interrogating:

· he showed his prejudices;

· he degraded himself in act and word;

· he let his reactions to answers betray his feelings;

· he showed anger, hesitation and other emotions, though it wasn’t a part of his plan;

· he tried to dominate;

· he spoke to the suspect about the things not concerning the crime;

· he gave the suspect permission to read the criminal records;

· he beat and humiliated the suspect;

· he was in a hurry with the conclusions.

But his senior colleague Mr. Smith observed all these principles. Make the sentences above negative and write down what Mr. Smith didn’t do.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 5

Make the following sentences interrogative. Translate them into Russian.

1. John decided to go to the Court of Appeals.

___________________________________________________________________________

2. The court reviewed Mr. Alistair’s case last month.

_____________________________________________________________________________

3. The case did not involve federal law.

_________________________________________________________________________

4. Yesterday Ms. Ming’s case went to a specialized court, not a general court.

_________________________________________________________________________

5. I never was in any court, when I was a pupil.

________________________________________________________________

6. There was no discretionary review in the appeals court.

________________________________________________________________

7. The accused finished to read the sentence five minutes ago.

________________________________________________________________

Exercise 6

Put down questions to the italicized parts of the sentences.

1. The Supreme Court heard the case that involved an important question about the Constitution.

_____________________________________________________________________________

2. We asked the case to be reviewed in the Court of Appeals.

_____________________________________________________________________________

3. Their client did not agree with the court’s decision.

_____________________________________________________________________________

4. The fine paid by a careless driver amounted to $50.

________________________________________________________________

5. The police found the money stolen in the robbery.

________________________________________________________________

6. Last time the district court decided against that company.

________________________________________________________________

Exercise 7

· Read the text putting the verbs in brackets into the Past Indefinite Tense. Translate the text into Russian.

The adventure of the empty house

by A. Conan Doyle

It (to be) ________in the spring of the year 1894 that the news of the murder of Ronald Adair under the most unusual circumstances (to excite) ______________all London. Ronald Adair (to be) _____the second son of the Earl Maynooth. Adair’s mother (to return) __________ from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract and she, her son Ronald and her daughter Hilda (to live) _______together at 427 Park Lain. He (to be) _________a quiet man whose life (to move) _________ in a narrow circle. And someone unexpectedly (to murder) __________ this aristocrat between ten and eleven twenty on the night of March 1894.

Ronald Adair (to be) ________fond of cards. He (to belong) _______________ to several card clubs. On the day of his death he (to play) ______________whist at one of these card clubs. The man playing with him (to say) ___________ that he had lost about five pounds but no more. He (to be) ________a rich man and the loss (not to be) ___________important for him. He (to play) ___________every day and generally (to win) ______________.

On the evening of the crime he (to return) ___________from the club at ten. His mother and sister (to be) __________out spending the evening with a friend of theirs. The servant (to hear) ___________him come into the front room on the second floor. Lady Maynooth and her daughter (to return) ______________ at eleven twenty. They (to want) _________to say good-night to Ronald. They (to knock) _____________ at the door, but no answer (to come) _____________. The door (to be) ___________ locked on the inside. They (to call) __________for help, and when the door (to be) ___________forced they (to find) _________ the young man lying near the table with a revolver bullet in his head. On the table there (to be) _________two banknotes for two pounds each and seventeen pounds in silver and gold.

Why ______ the young man (to lock) _________ the door on the inside? Perhaps the murderer (to do) _________that and (to escape) ______________ by the window.

Thinking about these facts I (to ask) ___________ myself what my poor friend Sherlock Holmes would have done under those circumstances but I (not to find) __________ the right answer.

· Ask questions of your own about the text and let your fellow students answer them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

· Retell the text.

Exercise 8

· Use the verb from the box to complete the sentences in the Past Indefinite Tense. Some of the sentences are positive statements, some are negative. Translate the sentences into Russian.

a)

to examine to write to disturb to be to prevent(from) to find to order to arrive to keep to interview

The scene of crime

The first officer Ivan Smirnov _________ at the crime scene two hours ago and _________ it very carefully. He _______ _______ any valuable traces. As a specially trained officer Ivan Smirnov _________ the evidence of the crime (bloodstains and footprints) without difficulty. Then he tactically but firmly _________all possible witnesses from leaving the scene. The officer _________the witnesses immediately and _________ down their names and addresses. But he _________ away all the incompetent persons from the scene. As it was possible Smirnov ________ to lock the house to prevent entry and protect traces, because the importance of preserving the crime scene in its original condition _________very essential for the investigation.

b)

---

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14