Grammar: Verb, Plural, prep.

[bmo]

1. Delaying the firemen and the policemen the salary increases promised them a year ago due to current budget crisis is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch.

A. Increases or increase? Both correct?
B. Promised them or promised to them? Both correct?
C. Change "promised them" to "they were promised," is that better?
D. The firemen and the policemen. Can't skip the second "the?"
E. Anything else is wrong?

2. The police finally caught up with the kidnapper who had been passing out candies to children in the shopping malls.

A. Candies or candy. First choice?
B. In, inside or at shopping malls?
C. "Caught up with" is apprehended, correct? If the police were now at the vicinity where the kidnapper was, but have not apprehend the person yet, how do you say it then?
D. Always plural after "police?"
E. Sentence 2. Children or the children?
F. Is anything else wrong?

Thanks a bunch.

bmo

 

[RonBee]

1. Delaying the firemen and the policemen the salary increases promised them a year ago due to current budget crisis is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch.

A. Increases or increase? Both correct?

Increases. (There is more than one individual involved.)

B. Promised them or promised to them? Both correct?

They are both correct.

C. Change "promised them" to "they were promised," is that better?

I see no improvement, since the way the sentence is phrased in the first instance makes it perfectly clear what is meant.

D. The firemen and the policemen. Can't skip the second "the?"

I think you can skip the second "the", but I like the symmetry. :wink:

E. Anything else is wrong?

The original sentence is perfectly fine. (Say: "Is anything else wrong?")

2. The police finally caught up with the kidnapper who had been passing out candies to children in the shopping malls.

Good. :wink:

A. Candies or candy. First choice??

Either one.

B. In, inside or at shopping malls?

We would normally say "at the shopping mall", but the sentence as written would be understood.

C. "Caught up with" is apprehended, correct? If the police were now at the vicinity where the kidnapper was, but have not apprehend the person yet, how do you say it then?

My initial impression upon reading "Caught up with" was that he had indeed been apprehended. However, that phrase seems to say that the police have found him but they have not yet arrested him. If the police are at the vicinity where the kidnapper was, but have not apprehend the person yet then I guess the best you can say is that they are on his trail. In other words, they are still looking for him.

D. Always plural after "police?"
E. Sentence 2. Children or the children?
F. Is anything else wrong?

1. Yes.
2. Use "the" if you are talking about some specific children. Otherwise, do not.
3. No.

:wink:

 

[RonBee]

 

[Tdol]

With 'the firemen...' you can skip the the article, you could even do it it with 'the firmen and police', but it doesn't sound as good here. I prefer it with the article. We have no problem in English with repeating grammatical words, even close together. ;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

<<<1. Delaying the firemen and the policemen the salary increases promised them a year ago due to current budget crisis is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch.

A. Increases or increase? Both correct?
B. Promised them or promised to them? Both correct?
C. Change "promised them" to "they were promised," is that better?
D. The firemen and the policemen. Can't skip the second "the?"
E. Anything else is wrong?>>>

There are many things wrong with this sentence. The first error is the initial gerund. "Delaying" would be correct except for the gerund's indirect object "the firemen and the policemen". One cannot delay someone an increase, even though one can delay an increase. The gerund "denying" would work, but it changes the meaning. Another problem is the placement of "due to a current budget crisis". As written, this phrase appears to modify "promised" instead of "delaying". Logically, these raised were not promised due to budget cuts.

In my opinion, the sentence would be better as:

Delaying, due to the current budget crisis, the salary increases promised to policemen and firemen a year ago is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch.

A. Increases would be better because there are two groups. It is unclear that both groups are receiving the same raise.
B. Either promised or promised to.
C. They were promised would be OK, also.
D. IMO, you can skip both.
E. Yes, already covered.

<<<2. The police finally caught up with the kidnapper who had been passing out candies to children in the shopping malls.>>>

A. Candies or candy. First choice?
B. In, inside or at shopping malls?
C. "Caught up with" is apprehended, correct? If the police were now at the vicinity where the kidnapper was, but have not apprehend the person yet, how do you say it then?
D. Always plural after "police?"
E. Sentence 2. Children or the children?
F. Is anything else wrong?>>>

A. Either. Candies works better if the items are small. Candy works no matter what shape or size.
B. I prefer "in".
C. Caught up with is OK. Apprehended would also be OK if the ploice had him in their control. If the police were just in the vicinity, caught up with is better. Also one could use "found", "located", "surrounded", etc.
D. Yes "the police" is normally plural.
E. That depends. If one had alreadty mentioned specific children use "the". If not, use no article at all.
F. Again if the malls had already been mentioned, use "the". If not, use no article.

 

[RonBee]

Mike pointed out a couple things I overlooked in the first sentence. (I understood what was meant by it, but the sentence could definitely be improved.) Perhaps: "Due to the current budget crisis it is considered necessary to delay the salary increases that were promised to the policemen and the firemen a year ago, but it is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch."

 

[bmo]

grammar: verb, plural, prep

Mike pointed out a couple things I overlooked in the first sentence. (I understood what was meant by it, but the sentence could definitely be improved.) Perhaps: "Due to the current budget crisis it is considered necessary to delay the salary increases that were promised to the policemen and the firemen a year ago, but it is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch."

Thanks to RonBee, Mike & Tdol,

Much clear now.
How come article "the" before firemen and policemen can be in or out ?

BMO

 

[RonBee]

Re: grammar: verb, plural, prep

How come article "the" before firemen and policemen can be in or out ?

It can't. In this case I would keep the first "the" (if not the second one) because we are talking about a specific group of policemen and firemen and not about policemen or firemen in general.

 

[RonBee]