Re: Missing Singulars

On 2008-12-19 18:00, Andrew Jarrette wrote:

> Yes, <these/those police> is probably acceptable, although I seldom
> hear anything other than <the police>. More likely one would say
> <these/those policemen> (or <police officers>, especially if women
> are included). But I disagree: I don't think one can say "ten police"
> or "I counted seven police", at least I wouldn't say those. One
> would more likely say "ten police officers" or "I counted seven
> policemen". So I think <police> behaves more like <cattle> (takes a
> plural verb) except it's usually prefixed by <the> and whereas one
> might say <some cattle> one wouldn't say <some police>.

Constructions like <two police arrived at the scene> or <twelve soldiers
and four police were injured> can be found quite often especially
(though not exclusively) in British and Australian/NZ English; at least
one can google up a fair number of examples. They may be journalese for
<police officers>. Here's a typical example:

"Two police arrived to arrest Mrs Cairncross at the senior school
assembly and took her away in a police car with blue lights flashing."

http://www.oldws.org.uk/In_Touch_Spring_2007.pdf

The accompanying photo shows two police officers of different sex.

Piotr