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Can You Find the Confession in this Statement?
  
Case Study #1

On February 22, 1989, a bundle of 10's totaling 5,000.00 dollars was found in locker #3, where my cash drawer is kept.  The date stamped on the straps of the bundle is that of the 31st of January 1989, on this day as on most Tuesday I am responsible for balancing the vault.  At approximately 2:00 p.m. I balanced the vault.  The currency is then placed in vault locker #5.  If #5 is locked then the currency is placed in any open locker and locked, if I am doing the vault then I will put it in locker #3.  I did not have a chance to find someone to tell them before they went to the vault.  If I placed the bundle in locker #3 then it was there from the 31'st of January until it was discovered on the 22'nd of February.  I had no knowledge of the missing money.  I've been with this bank for more than two years and if in that time you are unaware of my trustworthiness then I suggest we need to come to some sort of agreement so this does not happen again.  

  
Case Study #2

In an insurance case, a person who was suspected of setting his own car on fire wrote:

My car was parked out the front of the house with the alarm set.  I last saw it around 8 PM Sunday.  I woke up in the morning and discovered it missing around 9 AM.

  
Case Study #1 - The Solution:

1.    First person past tense expresses commitment to the events described.  However, the following sentences are in present tense, and in passive form (=no "I"), indicating lack of commitment:  

    "The currency is then placed in vault locker #5..."
    "If #5 is locked then the currency is placed..."

2.    The word "again" ("...so this does not happen again") indicates that the event (embezzlement?) has already happened once before.

3.    Changes in language:
    a.    "On February 22, 1989, a bundle of 10's..."
    b.    "The date stamped on the straps of the bundle..."
    c.    "The currency is then placed in vault locker #5..."
    d.    "If #5 is locked then the currency is placed in..."
    e.    "If I placed the bundle in locker #3..."
    f.    "I had no knowledge of the missing money ."

    Please note the following:  

    a.    Passive language + present tense = "currency".
    b.    "I" + past tense = "bundle".
    c.    Missing = "money"

    People who work in banks work with "currency", "bundles", etc.  They do not work with "money".  People cannot spend "currency" or "bundles".  They can only spend "money".  When the teller referred to the "missing money", she incriminated herself.



  
Case Study #2 - The Solution:

1.    "My car was parked" is not the same as, "I parked my car."  In this sentence the person used passive language which is basically true.  The car was parked but it is not the subject who did the parking.

2.    The subject said, "...was parked out the front of the house..."  He didn't say, "...was parked out the front of my house..."  And if the subject didn't say that it was parked in front of his own house, then the reader is not allowed to say it either.

    Yes.  The car was parked somewhere.  The only question is: where?

3.    The subject said:

    a.    "My car was parked..."

    b.    "I last saw it..."

    c.    "...and discovered it missing..."

    One should notice that when the subject saw "it" for the last time it was not a "car" anymore.  It was only "it".

    One can say that the pronoun "it" was justified as the car is only an object.  That's true.  However, many people look upon their car as one of the most precious possessions they have.  To use the neutral pronoun "it" might indicate that the last time the subject saw the car it did not have driving ability.

4.    The subject ended the short statement by saying, "...and discovered it missing..."  Here, also, the subject is not lying.  He is absolutely truthful!!!  In the morning the car was not there.