Practical exercises for students

Police Dog Catches Burglars (from the newspaper) Three burglars were arrested yesterday. They were waiting in a bus shelter five miles from the scene of their crime. They had stolen some silver from an antique shop, had hidden everything in a nearby wood and were waiting for a bus to go home. But they had not thought about the determination of police constable Jane Bashsam and her dog, Rex. PC Basham was working at the local police station when she received a call about a break-in. When she got there, she found footprints in the snow. Her dog led her to a car park and then into a wood. There they found the silver which the burglars had planned to collect later. Rex then continued across the fields, over the railway line and through a river. They followed the river and finally arrived in the village of Brimfield. Rex took PC Basham straight to the shelter where the three men were sitting in the cold. She called for help and the men were arrested and charged with theft.

Use the key words to complete the summary antique shop, break-in, burglars, bus shelter, fields, footprints, police constable, police dog, railway line, river, silver, wood First, the burglars stole some (1)……… from an (2)………. When a (3)………….found out about the (4)…………, she went to the shop and saw (5)…………in the snow. She started to follow them with her (6)………… After that, they found the silver hidden in a (7)………….. Next, they went across some (8)……….., over a (9)………and through a (10)………….. In the end, they found the (11)…………. Sitting in a (12)……………..!

Past Perfect Use We use Past Perfect to talk about an event or situation in the past which happened before other past events. The police arrested man who had broken into a jeweller’s shop. We use Past Perfect and the Past Simple in one sentence, to show the order of past events. Compare the following sentences: When I arrived, she left. (I arrived and the she left.) When I arrived, she had left. (She left before I arrived.)

The Past Perfect is formed in this way Subject + had + the third form of the verb I had met him before. Had Tom begun his project before anyone else did? They hadn’t moved their house earlier.

Complete the sentences with hadn’t, had, planned and hidden. They had (1) ……… to collect the silver later. Had they (2)………..to collect the silver later? They had (3)………the silver in a nearby wood. They (4)………(5)………..the silver in a nearby wood. (6)……..they (7)…………..the silver in a nearby wood?

Put the verbs in the Past Perfect Nobody believed him because he …………. (lie) before. They weren’t surprised at all. ……….. (hear) the news earlier? She was very hungry; she ………… (not, eat) breakfast or lunch. Before he went sleep he ………….. (drink) a cup of hot milk. The police arrested two men who …………. (break) into a jeweller’s shop.