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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Exercise 1
Work in pairs. Ask each other the questions below. If your partner is happy to share the
information, report back to the rest of the class.

a. When was the last time you told a lie today, yesterday, longer ago, or you cant
remember?
b. Are some lies more acceptable than others?
c. What kind of reputation do the police have in your country?
d. Would you like to be a police officer? Why or why not?
e. Do you think the police should be allowed to carry guns? Why or why not?
f. How do you feel about capital punishment?

Exercise 2

How good are you at telling lies? Now is the time to find out. Write out six statements
three about your qualifications and three about the work experience you have had. Some
of the statements should be true and some of them should be false. Now find yourself a
partner and interview each other. The aim of the interviewer is to discover the lies. How
many lies can you spot?

Exercise 3
You can tell a lie and you tell the truth. What other words go with the verb TELL? Find
the missing words to fill the gaps in these sentences:

1. My watch has stopped. Can you tell me the .................................... please?

2. You can tell someones .................................... by looking into a crystal ball.

3. I cant tell you the .................................... to the question because I dont know it.

4. She never told me her .................................... but I suppose she was in her early
thirties.

5. Before the children went to bed, he promised to tell them a .................................... .

6. I cant tell you the .................................... of the painting. You need to show it to an
expert.

7. What Im going to tell you is a .................................... so you must promise not to tell it
to anyone else.

8. The teacher told the class a .................................... but nobody found it funny and
nobody laughed.

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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Exercise 4
Work in pairs. Ask each other the questions below, and then report back with the
information you find out about your partner to the rest of the class:

a. How important is honesty to you, in your personal and in your business life?
b. Have you ever taken a day off work and told your boss you were ill?
c. When do you tell white lies?
d. Are there any lies on your CV? If there are, then explain why.
e. Have you ever told a lie at a job interview? If you have, then explain why, and also
what the result was.

Exercise 5
Answer the clues across to complete the grid:

D
E
T
E
C
T
I
V
E

1. You can find this person in a court of law and 6. not innocent
he/she wears a wig. 7. a building where criminals are kept
2. to take something that does not belong to you 8. Is he still _____ or is he dead?
3. Dont lie to me. Tell me the _____. 9. We have evidence to prove you committed
4. a person who can give you legal advice the crime so were placing you _____ arrest
5. To call the _____ you need to dial 999.

Exercise 6
Match the numbers on the left with the letters on the right to complete the collocations like
the example:

1. bank a. aid
2. commit b. chair
3. drug c. confinement
4. electric d. dealer
5. hard e. drugs
6. identity f. immigrant
7. illegal g. lie
8. legal h. offence
9. minor i. parade
10. police j. robber
11. solitary k. station
12. white l. suicide

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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Exercise 7
Rank the punishments below in order of severity, with 1 as the most severe:

life imprisonment

community service

a warning

a 30-year (prison) sentence

hard labour

a fine

a suspended sentence

capital punishment

a 10-year (prison) sentence

Exercise 8

Working in small groups, decide what punishments should be given to the following
criminals. You may want to apply some of the punishments above. You may have other
suggestions. Then compare your answers with those of the other groups:

a. a drunk driver who knocks down and kills a child

b. a teenager caught driving without a licence, and without insurance

c. a single mother on benefits who is caught shoplifting in a supermarket

d. a wealthy aristocrat who is caught shoplifting in Harrods for something she could
easily afford to buy

e. a foreign student caught working illegally without a permit

f. the owner of a restaurant who employs staff with no work permits and pays them
less than the minimum wage

g. a university student caught cheating in an exam

h. a teenager caught smoking a joint in a park

i. a person working as a surgeon in a hospital who is discovered to be unqualified

j. a spectator caught chanting racist slogans at a football match

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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Teachers notes
Exercise 1
Note that some of the questions are sensitive and students may not want their answers revealed to
the whole class.

Exercise 2
Before students interview each other, you could elicit some suitable questions, for instance by
giving true and false statements about your own career and getting students to make the questions
for those answers.
Some ideas for questions:

Did you go to university?


What did you study, and to what level?
Have you ever done a work placement/an internship?
What was your first/last job?
What did/didnt you like about it?
How long have you been in your present job?
What are your responsibilities?

Exercise 3
1 time 2 future 3 answer 4 age 5 story 6 value/age 7 secret 8 joke
Exercise 5

J U D G E
S T E A L
T R U T H
L A W Y E R
P O I L C E
G U I L T Y
P R I S O N
A L I V E
U N D E R

Exercise 6
1-j; 2-l; 3-d; 4-b; 5-e; 6-i; 7-f; 8-a; 9-h; 10-k; 11-c; 12-g

Exercise 7
Note that there may be disagreement about whether hard labour and capital punishment are
worse than life imprisonment or whether community service is worse than a suspended sentence.

3. life imprisonment
6. community service
9. a warning
4. a 30-year (prison) sentence
2. hard labour
8. a fine
7. a suspended sentence
1. capital punishment
5. a 10-year (prison) sentence

Exercise 8
Point out that students dont need to know what the punishments really are. The aim is to discuss
what they think they should be.

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