"three cattle were stolen" (?)
Hi,
[1] I am having a problem with using (cardinal) numerals before the noun "cattle".
On one hand, the internet is alive with examples like "Three cattle were stolen from ....", etc.
On the other hand, a famous grammarian claims that "cattle cannot be used for counting individual animals ( one cannot say, for instance, THREE CATTLE"...)
I must be missing something here .... please help me solve the puzzle...
[2] I am having difficulty with the noun "police", too.
Am I right in thinking that the examples
(1) "many police take a course in ... nowadays"
(2) "very few police have a diploma in..."
(3) "Three police were assaulted and several more were ...."
are all correct English?
vlivef
Top answer
In my experience, "cattle" and "police" cannot be used with low numerals, but are found with high round numerals a thousand cattle / two hundred police are fine but not *five cattle / *four police Instead of the latter, we say five head of cattle or five cows / four policemen For this reason, "cattle" and "police" are sometimes called 'quasi-count nouns'. Other similar nouns include "livestock" and "vermin".
- In my experience, "cattle" and "police" cannot be used with low numerals, but are found with high round numerals a thousand cattle / two hundred police are fine but not *five cattle / *four police Instead of the latter, we say five head of cattle or five cows / four policemen For this reason, "cattle" and "police" are sometimes called 'quasi-count nouns'.
- Other similar nouns include "livestock" and "vermin".
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
In my experience, "cattle" and "police" cannot be used with low numerals, but are found with high round numerals
a thousand cattle / two hundred police are fine
but not
*five cattle / *four police
Instead of the latter, we say five head of cattle or five cows / four policemen
For this reason, "cattle" and "pol
0
Related Questions