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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

The definite article

"You'd probably be taken to court or to the police".

What rules exactly explain why we use THE with POLICE, but not with COURT?
  

Top answer

'Court' is considered an 'institution of human life and society' and a place, and as such, functions without the article-- 'at court', 'to court', 'in court'-- much like 'to hospital', 'at school', 'in church'. Hence, it is one member of a small group of exceptions to the rule for definite articles. 'The police', on the other hand is not an institution or place, but a group or department of law inforcement officers, and functions in this situation as a normal collective noun.

— Mister Micawber

  • 'Court' is considered an 'institution of human life and society' and a place, and as such, functions without the article-- 'at court', 'to court', 'in court'-- much like 'to hospital', 'at school', 'in church'.
  • Hence, it is one member of a small group of exceptions to the rule for definite articles.
  • 'The police', on the other hand is not an institution or place, but a group or department of law inforcement officers, and functions in this situation as a normal collective noun.
  • We wouldn't say 'you would be taken to police ' because we would want to refer to particular police in the jurisdiction (just as 'to court' does).
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1 Answers
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'Court' is considered an 'institution of human life and society' and a place, and as such, functions without the article-- 'at court', 'to court', 'in court'-- much like 'to hospital', 'at school', 'in church'. Hence, it is one member of a small group of exceptions to the rule for definite articles.

'The police', on the other hand is not an institution or place, but a group or departmen
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