past perfect v.s. past simple

[lost_soul]

[Yankee]

Hi LS

Was your sentence by any chance taken from the news?

Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[lost_soul]

Hi, Amy !

No, it was taken from this site, from one of Alan's tests.

(Do you mean that in the news they always narrate in the present simple tense ?)
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Alex

A native speaker of Russian

[Yankee]

Hi LS

The sentence is similar to "reported speech". The tense most likely to have been used in the direct speech is the present perfect:
"Some criminals have broken out of gaol, so be on the lookout for them."

In "reported speech", the verb tense back-shifts and the usual back-shift for the present perfect is the simple past tense.

I don't see the use of the simple past tense as something that would cause any confusion in the sentence, but you can also use the past perfect.
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English