[etni] Fw: re:: question
- From: "Ask" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "Etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:31:52 +0200
----- Original Message -----
From: Doron Narkiss - doron.narkiss@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: question
Unfortunately, the OUP site is at odds with the OED itself (Shorter, 3rd
edition, 1977), which states: "Police:... 3. The department of government...
concerned with... public order and safety and the enforcement of the law...
4. ... construed as plural, the mebers of a police force;...". Webster's
Unabridged makes the same distinction. In other words, the first meaning
requires the singular, the second takes the plural; depending on context and
intended reference, either sing. or pl. apply.
So: "The police requests the public's assistance"; but "The police are
making house-to-house searches".
Doron
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