Grammar question: the police is/are ...
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 3:16 am
Hi guys,
This is one for the native American English speakers – of which there are plenty here.
Background:
One grammatical difference between American English and British English is that AE treats collective nouns as singular while BE often treats the same word as plural.
For instance:
AE The team is happy with the progress
BE The team are happy with the progress
AE The band is playing great tonight
BE The band are playing great tonight
So far, so good. My question is about the word “police”. In British English we would normally say things like “The police are investigating the crime” or “The police are on the way” or “The police have released a sketch of the suspect”. As far as I understand, “the police” is something of an exception to the aforementioned rule because – I believe – AE too treats this collection noun as a plural and the three examples just quoted are also normal AE usage. Hence a native AE speaker wouldn’t normally say “The police is on the way” or “The police has released a sketch”.
Or am I wrong, and “The police is investigating the crime” etc. is actually good or even required grammar in AE ??
Some feedback from AE speakers would be great.
Caveat: Obvously if one is referring to the entire institution of the police then the singular form is appropriate, e.g. “The police is the executive arm of the government.” Or if one talks about “the police force”, which is obviously singular. My question here is solely about “the police” in normal speech as in the previous examples.
This is one for the native American English speakers – of which there are plenty here.
Background:
One grammatical difference between American English and British English is that AE treats collective nouns as singular while BE often treats the same word as plural.
For instance:
AE The team is happy with the progress
BE The team are happy with the progress
AE The band is playing great tonight
BE The band are playing great tonight
So far, so good. My question is about the word “police”. In British English we would normally say things like “The police are investigating the crime” or “The police are on the way” or “The police have released a sketch of the suspect”. As far as I understand, “the police” is something of an exception to the aforementioned rule because – I believe – AE too treats this collection noun as a plural and the three examples just quoted are also normal AE usage. Hence a native AE speaker wouldn’t normally say “The police is on the way” or “The police has released a sketch”.
Or am I wrong, and “The police is investigating the crime” etc. is actually good or even required grammar in AE ??
Some feedback from AE speakers would be great.
Caveat: Obvously if one is referring to the entire institution of the police then the singular form is appropriate, e.g. “The police is the executive arm of the government.” Or if one talks about “the police force”, which is obviously singular. My question here is solely about “the police” in normal speech as in the previous examples.