--- title: When the police come — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «When the police come», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The knock came at teatime. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / When the police come # When the police come Lesson 384 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 32 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/0/) — The knock came at teatime. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/1/) — A police officer stood on Kieran's doorstep asking about a bike stolen from outside the Co-op. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/2/) — Kieran's mum went white, then red. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/3/) — Kieran had not taken it, but he had been there, laughing, while an older boy rode off. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/4/) — The officer asked calm, plain questions and wrote Kieran's name in her notebook. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/7/) — Let's keep it that way — just a name, not a record.» His mum didn't speak to him all evening, which was worse than shouting. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/8/) — That same month Jake knocked over a fruit stand outside a shop during a scrap. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/9/) — Oranges rolled into the road, and the shopkeeper, Mr Patel, fed up, rang the police. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/10/) — Jake had to meet an officer at school with his head teacher and his mum, and say sorry to the shopkeeper face to face. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/11/) — A week later Maddie was in a park scuffle when a police car pulled up; everyone scattered except Maddie, who stood there with a muddy knee. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/12/) — Her dad said: «If the police come round again, you lose your phone for a month.» - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/13/) — Not every visit was bad news. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/14/) — Sam saw a fight in the street, and an officer asked him what he had seen. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/16/) — And one evening Lily saw older boys fighting near her house; when one of them lay still on the pavement and didn't get up, she rang 999 and stayed on the line from her doorway until the ambulance came. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/17/) — The officer said she had done exactly the right thing. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/18/) — Police are not only there to catch people; they keep people safe and stop things getting worse. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/19/) — Fights in the street are a police matter because people get badly hurt and property gets broken. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/20/) — Being honest with the police, staying calm, and calling 999 when someone is hurt or in danger are what sensible people do. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/21/) — Later that term a community police officer came to Jake's school to talk about staying safe and street fights. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/22/) — In the UK the emergency number is 999 (112 also works); in the USA and Canada it is 911, in Australia 000 and in New Zealand 111. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/23/) — 999 reaches the police, an ambulance, the fire service or the coastguard (who rescue people at sea). - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/24/) — You call 999 when someone is badly hurt, in danger, or a crime is happening right now. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/25/) — A person lying still after a fight may be seriously hurt and needs an ambulance quickly. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/26/) — When you call 999, you say which service you need, where you are, and what has happened, and you answer the operator's questions. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/27/) — Stay at a safe distance from a fight; your job is to call for help, not to step in. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/28/) — A witness should say only what they really saw and heard, not guesses or what others said. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/29/) — Standing by laughing while someone commits a crime can still get you questioned by the police. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/30/) — In England and Wales, children aged 10 and over can be charged with a crime. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/31/) — Damaging someone's property during a fight, like a shop stand, usually has to be paid for or put right. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/32/) — Community police officers visit schools to help children stay safe, not only to catch people. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/33/) — Telling the police the truth calmly is always the best choice; lying makes things much worse. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/34/) — Parents often set their own consequences, like losing a phone, on top of anything the police do. - ← previous: [Street gangs and loyalty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/383-street-gangs-and-loyalty/) - next →: [Respect: how it is earned](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/385-respect-how-it-is-earned/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)