Scotland Yard, London
Criminal Investigation Division
Summary of events:
At approximately 01:24, two individuals (gain) access to the museum by (pretend) to be police officers. The security guard (open) the door because he (believe) their story. The suspects (spend) 81 minutes inside and (remove) 13 works of art before leaving on foot.
All 6 blanks here use Past Simple — completed actions that happened one night in March 1990.
Regular verbs: add -ed → open → opened, believe → believed, remove → removed, gain → gained
⚠️ Blank 5: spend is irregular! spend → spent (NOT “spended”)
⚠️ Blank 2: after “by”, always use -ing. “by pretending” = using the method of pretending.
Evidence collected:
Forensic teams, applying Locard’s Exchange Principle, (examine) the scene and (recover) the following traces:
What to include: fingerprints, footprints on the floor, fibres from clothing, tool marks, DNA
Use Past Simple: “They found...”, “The team discovered...”, “Investigators collected...”
Connectors to make it longer: “In addition,” / “Furthermore,” / “They also...”
Try this structure: What was found + Where + Why it matters
Example: “They found fingerprints on the door frame. In addition, fibres from dark clothing were collected near the exit. Footprints were also discovered on the museum floor.”
Current status:
As of 2026, the paintings (not / recover). No arrests (make). The museum (maintain) the empty frames.
The theft happened in 1990 — but the results are still true now in 2026. That connection is exactly what Present Perfect expresses!
Formula (passive): have / has + been + past participle
• The paintings (plural) → “have not been recovered”
• No arrests (plural) → “have been made”
• The museum (singular) → “has maintained”
For blank 9, your answer must include “not”: have not been recovered
Recommended next actions:
Investigators will / are going to / might …
Use these 3 structures:
• will + verb → definite: “Investigators will analyse the DNA evidence.”
• are going to + verb → planned: “They are going to interview new witnesses.”
• might + verb → possible: “They might search international art markets.”
Ideas: re-examine evidence, use new DNA technology, increase the $10M reward, work with Interpol, monitor known art dealers
🎯 Challenge: add a reason with “because” or “in order to” — it makes your sentences much stronger!
Example: “They will re-examine the fingerprints using modern DNA technology because the original analysis was done in 1990.”
python3 -m http.server 8080 then visit localhost:8080