Reported Speech (2)

​bungling - неумелый, неуклюжий

a bungling criminal
a bungling burglar

So Right It's Wrong

​Designer brand shoes can fetch a good price on the black market so this thief targeted a shoe shop selling Jordan trainers in Virginia, USA. It was all well planned; donning (надев) a ski mask he broke into the shop in the early hours and grabbed all the trainers he could from the shelves and made off with his haul (скрылся с уловом). Unfortunately for him, as is often the custom in shoe shops, only right-footed shoes were out on display, their left counterparts were stored separately. He was probably hopping mad (кипел от злости) when he discovered he had 8 odd shoes.

​Often, in the event of crime, a photo-fit (фоторобот) will be produced to attempt to create a likeness of the suspect. That wasn’t necessary in this case as the perpetrator (преступник, нарушитель) supplied his own ‘selfie’ – and sent it to all his victim’s friends and family! The photogenic thief stole an iPhone, along with many other valuables, and thought that he could safely use it after swapping the SIM card. He posted a selfie onto Facebook but inadvertently (ненароком) also shared it on the phone owner’s Whatsapp account. The victim’s friends then passed it on to police who recognised the thief as he was previously known to them. The only photos he’s now posing for are arrest photos.

​These burglars in Brighton thought they’d found a great hiding place (укрытие) when the police turned up at the restaurant they were robbing. The experience soon left them cold though when they realised they had locked themselves in to the walk-in freezer (морозильной камере). Had the police not persisted with their search, they would have almost certainly frozen to death. 

What can you do after this lesson? Tick if yes

• I can report what other people have said.

• I can change the tence of direct speech sentences to form reported speech sentences.

• I can use 'say' and 'tell' correctly.

• I have learnt some new words:

  bungling, a perpetrator, a photo-fit, a hiding place, to make off with a haul, to hop mad