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chin_min
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 08:18
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.



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Bhai
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 09:55
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I would go with C assuming that police is plural. Otherwise it is D.
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twixt
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 10:49
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Probably the same reason as Bhai but I suppose police is singular and choose D, second choice is C...
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Dharmin
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 11:31
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yeah, it is "D" - "police" is a collective noun and so must be SINGULAR.

Dharmin
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 13:24
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D for me.

I think we can treat Police as singular.
Also, I would assume the following words to be singular.


- government
- family
- team
- committee


Any thoughts?
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aspire2005
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 16:16
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I vote for C.

Police is plural :shock: . See this site -

https://www.better-english.com/grammar/sinplu.htm
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 09 Nov 2004, 22:20
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NEWKID
D for me.

I think we can treat Police as singular.
Also, I would assume the following words to be singular.


- government
- family
- team
- committee


Any thoughts?
Show more


Yeah my limited ken about verbal says all these, including police, are collective noun and thus SINGULAR.

however, the link supplied by aspire throws some different light altogether. can someone - paul/venksune please reconcile the two points.

Dharmin
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 10 Nov 2004, 08:06
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Dharmin
NEWKID
D for me.

I think we can treat Police as singular.
Also, I would assume the following words to be singular.


- government
- family
- team
- committee


Any thoughts?

Yeah my limited ken about verbal says all these, including police, are collective noun and thus SINGULAR.

however, the link supplied by aspire throws some different light altogether. can someone - paul/venksune please reconcile the two points.

Dharmin
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Some of these can some time act as singular or plural. If you are refering to members of the team or committee then you need to use plural verb. Take a look at the following examples

The committee has now come to a decision.

but you could hardly use a singular verb in

The committee have now taken their seats.

I have invited my family to tea and they are coming on Friday

Packers are winning: they have just scored.
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 10 Nov 2004, 09:44
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Dharmin
NEWKID
D for me.

I think we can treat Police as singular.
Also, I would assume the following words to be singular.


- government
- family
- team
- committee


Any thoughts?

Yeah my limited ken about verbal says all these, including police, are collective noun and thus SINGULAR.

however, the link supplied by aspire throws some different light altogether. can someone - paul/venksune please reconcile the two points.

Dharmin
Show more



Some of these can some time act as singular or plural. If you are refering to members of the team or committee then you need to use plural verb. Take a look at the following examples

The committee has now come to a decision.

but you could hardly use a singular verb in

The committee have now taken their seats.

I have invited my family to tea and they are coming on Friday

Packers are winning: they have just scored.
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 10 Nov 2004, 11:18
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'D' for me, 'Police' is a collective noun and hence singular - even though https://www.better-english.com/grammar/sinplu.htm says otherwise.
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chin_min
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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable 12 Nov 2004, 20:12
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hi so sorry for not posting the OA sooner (forgot about the post)

n also so surprised that not a single person to ans correct
well, so i m not the only one who is confused here :roll:

OA is B

this is crack-gmat Q n the explanation provided is:

'The Police' refers to a group, and is always Plural.
Hence, options A, D, and E can be eliminated.

Between B and C, the former is better structured.
In option C, the pronoun `they` has a note of ambiguity as it is not clear whether it stands for 'the Police' or 'some people'.

Hence (B) is the correct answer.

my choice was (D) assuming that police is singular
is there any exception to this rule of singular/plural?
can anyone clarify the correct verb usage for the group nouns



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This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
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