1. Timeline
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann and the aftermath...
Key developments in the disappearance of Madeleine McCan
 guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 July 2008 13.17 BST
Thursday May 3 2007: Madeleine disappears from a holiday apartment at the Ocean Club resort in the
Algarve village of Praia da Luz, while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dine with friends at a nearby
tapas restaurant.
Friday May 4: The McCanns make an emotional plea for Madeleine's safe return, directly appealing to their
daughter's abductors and speaking of their "anguish and despair".
Saturday May 5: Detectives say they believe Madeleine was abducted and is still alive and in Portugal.
Wednesday May 9: A Norwegian tourist, Marie Olli, says she believes she saw Madeleine at a Moroccan
petrol station asking a man: "Can I see mummy soon?" On the same day, a British man reports seeing a girl
matching her description near the Ibis hotel in Marrakech.
Monday May 14: Police launch a search at the Portuguese home of a British expatriate, Robert Murat, 100
yards from where Madeleine disappeared. He is questioned, but not formally arrested.
Tuesday May 15: Police class Murat as an "arguido", or someone who has not been arrested or charged but
is being treated by police as more than a witness. He claims he is being made a scapegoat in the
investigation.
Thursday May 24: Madeleine's family release what is believed to be the last photograph taken of her before
she disappeared.
Wednesday June 6: Madeleine's parents deny any involvement in her abduction when questioned by a
German journalist at a press conference in Berlin.
Saturday June 16: A British couple report seeing a small blonde girl in the Maltese capital, Valletta. A full-
scale investigation is launched in the wake of a number of other possible sightings.
Sunday June 17: Portuguese police say Madeleine's friends and family may have unwittingly destroyed
vital evidence in the first few hours after her presumed abduction, during their search for her.
Monday August 6: A Portuguese newspaper reports that British sniffer dogs have found traces of blood on a
wall in the apartment where Madeleine went missing. A Portuguese paper, the Jornal de Noticias, claims
detectives now believe it is most likely that Madeleine is dead, having been killed accidentally.
Monday September 10: Portuguese police sources suggest that DNA tests prove Madeleine's body had
been in the boot of a car hired by her parents 25 days after she disappeared. Some DNA experts doubt the
claims.
Friday November 16: Jane Tanner, one of the McCann family's closest friends and part of the so-called
Tapas Seven, says she saw a man carrying a sleeping child away from the holiday apartments 45 minutes
before Kate McCann discovered her daughter was missing.
 guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

2. Putting distance with passives and other structures
Rewrite the sentences in red and italics to put some distance between the speaker or
writer and the information/facts. You can use the following structures:
It is said/believed/claimed that…
She us said/believed/claimed/thought/suspected to ……. be/have been
It appears/seems that…
She seems/appears to have…
It seems as if/though…
Examples: 1. Detectives say they believe Madeleine was abducted
Madelaine is said/believed to have been abducted.
2. Madeleine's friends and family may have unwittingly destroyed vital evidence
Madeleine's friends and family seem to have destroyed…