VOA慢速英语2021--Crime and Prepositions

 

Reporters writing news stories must be careful not to say someone is guilty before a trial in a court of law gives a decision. The expressions we use to talk about crime and punishment use combinations of prepositions and verbs. Today we will look at some of these special patterns.

You will often find the word "suspect" used as both a noun and a verb in news stories about a crime. As a noun, it is the person officials think may have done the crime. We use the preposition "in" with the noun form of suspect. For example:

The suspect in the robbery ran away.

As a verb, it is the act of believing someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something wrong. We use the preposition "of" with the verb form suspect, and you often hear the passive verb form:

Susan is suspected of selling drugs.

You will also notice that the noun and verb are pronounced differently. The noun has stress on the first syllable¹ –- SUS-pect. The verb has stress on the second syllable -– sus-PECT.

Another word you will notice in news stories is "allege²." Before a jury or a judge gives a decision, a reporter cannot say that someone has committed a crime. So, the media use this word to show someone is a suspect. A person is alleged³ "to" have done something.

For example:

Charles was alleged to have stolen the money.

When the police catch a suspect, we say they were arrested, or put "under arrest." If the reason for the arrest is given, you will find the preposition "for" nearby. Here is a sentence from our story on the murder of the Haitian president.

Among the suspects arrested for Moïse's killing⁴ are 23 former Colombian soldiers.

The next word you will hear often is "accuse" or to say that someone is guilty of a crime or a bad quality. The preposition following the object of this verb is "of." Here is a sentence from a recent news story:

The United States and its major allies have accused China of working with criminal hackers⁵ to carry out computer attacks worldwide.

The object of that sentence is "China," so the preposition "of" comes after it.

Anyone can accuse someone of a crime, but only an official can "charge" someone with wrongdoing. Here, you will find the preposition "with" following the object, as in this sentence from a story on the police officers involved in the death of George Floyd:

All four officers...are charged with failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Guilty or not guilty?

After a suspect is charged, they must tell the court whether they are guilty or not. To plead guilty is to take the blame, or responsibility for a crime. The Associated Press guide for writers says that the past tense for the legal word is "pleaded." About half the time, you will read or hear people using "pled" as the past tense which also is used. Our question is, what is the correct preposition to follow "pleaded guilty?" Here is one example from a story about people accused of leading protests in Hong Kong:

Joshua Wong...pleaded guilty to organizing and taking part in the June 2019 demonstration⁶ outside Hong Kong's police headquarters.

When we use the word "guilty," the preposition "to" comes before the condemned⁷ act. But when what follows is the word "charges" or "crime," the preposition may be "of."

Here is an example from our story about the bubble man of San Francisco:

Later in life he was found guilty of a crime and served time in prison.

Freedom or behind bars

I do not want to end this lesson on a down note, so I will give you one more verb pattern – after serving time, a criminal may be released "from" prison or jail. Recently, we reported this about several Hong Kong activists⁸:

Conditions for their temporary release from jail include that they do not leave Hong Kong and that they hand over all travel documents.

My final advice is to do everything "by the book" -- that means to follow the rules and stay out of trouble!

And that's Everyday Grammar!

Words in This Story

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

pronounce – v. to make the sound of words with your voice

stress – n. greater loudness or force given to a syllable of a word in speech or to a beat in music

allege – v. to state without definite proof that someone has done something wrong or illegal

*complement – n. a word or group of words added to a sentence to make it complete

1 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

2 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

6 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

7 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》