(The) cops

Question

Hi,If a neighbour comes up to me and says, "Apparently, the police were called here last night. Is that right?"Can I say either:i) "Yes, I did see the cops last night."ii) "Yes, I did see cops last night." I think either is grammatical for this context. "The" means the cops that were called last night (of which we know). No article means, "Yes, I did see some cops here".Either the definite article or zero article can be used here, right?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Only the cops sounds natural. That's how we usually refer to them..

I did see . . . sounds like you had no contact with them, for example if they went to a neighbor's house.
More natural in your context is
eg "Yes, I did talk to the cops last night."

Anonymous · Answer

CliveOnly the cops sounds natural. That's how we usually refer to them..I did see . . . sounds like you had no contact with them, for example if they went to a neighbor's house.More natural in your context iseg "Yes, I did talk to the cops last night."

Clive, thanks. I gave bad example. I am sorry.
A neighbour comes and says that wolves were spotted outside (we live in a rural area). I say:
"Yes, I did see (the) wolves last night."

To me, "the wolves" are the wolves whose existence was already established from previous context. It's natural and correct in this example.
But wolves without the article ("Yes, I see see wolves last night") suggests I am still in the process of identifying them. In other words, "Yes, I confirm that I saw some wolves last night". So that too sounds correct to me. Does that make sense?

Fivejedjon · Answer

It makes sense to me, but then I would accept just 'cops', in the sense of 'some cops' in your first example.

Anonymous · Answer

fivejedjonIt makes sense to me, but then I would accept just 'cops', in the sense of 'some cops' in your first example.

Thank you. That's very helpful.

(The) cops

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions