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HUBLOT Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
The police
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18217282
Police arrested an 18-year-old man suspected of the shootings in Hyvinkaa, 50km (30 miles) north of Helsinki.
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The police have not publicly commented on a possible motive for the crime.
Would it be correct to say "The police" instead of Police, and also to say "Police" in place of The police?
Police arrested an 18-year-old man suspected of the shootings in Hyvinkaa, 50km (30 miles) north of Helsinki.
...
The police have not publicly commented on a possible motive for the crime.
Would it be correct to say "The police" instead of Police, and also to say "Police" in place of The police?
Top answer
Hello Hublot Journalists are generally given wide berth when it comes to what they write. You would be correct, in my opinion, with each of the examples you have given. What bothers me, however, is the lack of consistency.
- Hello Hublot Journalists are generally given wide berth when it comes to what they write.
- You would be correct, in my opinion, with each of the examples you have given.
- What bothers me, however, is the lack of consistency.
- Even journalists should try and use the same style thought their article(s ).
- In this case, I would either use "the police" or "police" and not switch between the two.
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7 Answers
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Hello Hublot
Journalists are generally given wide berth when it comes to what they write. You would be correct, in my opinion, with each of the examples you have given. What bothers me, however, is the lack of consistency. Even journalists should try and use the same style thought their article(s ). In this case, I would either use "the police" or "police" and not switch between the two.
Journalists are generally given wide berth when it comes to what they write. You would be correct, in my opinion, with each of the examples you have given. What bothers me, however, is the lack of consistency. Even journalists should try and use the same style thought their article(s ). In this case, I would either use "the police" or "police" and not switch between the two.
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"Wide berth" does mean that (I hoped you would look it up on the chance that it was a new expression to you).
It is also used to convey, as I have employed it it in this instance, that journalists are not held to the same standards of good written English as other writers. Most readers let them avoid some of the rules; to bend the regulations a bit. Their main emphasis is on gett
It is also used to convey, as I have employed it it in this instance, that journalists are not held to the same standards of good written English as other writers. Most readers let them avoid some of the rules; to bend the regulations a bit. Their main emphasis is on gett
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JohnParis"Wide berth" does mean that (I hoped you would look it up on the chance that it was a new expression to you).It is also used to convey, as I have employed it it in this instance, that journalists are not held to the same standards of good written English as other writers.In British English we use 'wide berth' only in the way that Hublot found. In the
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Thanks Fivejedjon. I should have made it clear that as an American, I've used the expression not only as the British do but also in the sense of giving "leeway and slack." http://thesaurus.com/browse/Wide%20Berth?fromAsk=true&o=100074
I may be guilty of misuse and my interpretation ma
I may be guilty of misuse and my interpretation ma
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Thank you for the response, JohnParis, but I don't seem to understand you. Sorry.
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Americans use it that way, too. To give something wide berth is to stay well away from it, literally or figuratively. Our esteemed colleague and friend JohnParis made a mistake. I think he might have been thinking of "wide discretion".
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