二、有關語法和用法辭書的說明

筆者查閱手頭一些英語語法書和用法詞典，發現至少有以下“外籍”辭書認為 the police 用作主語時，謂語動詞要用復數，有的甚至明確指出，用單數是錯的：

■《英語常見語法錯誤大曝光》(ABC of common Grammatical Errors, by Nigel D. Turton) （科學出版社）第317頁：

police

× The jails are so crowded that the police does not arrest people for minor offences.

√ The jails are so crowded that the police do not arrest people for minor offences.

■《大學生用英語參考語法》（A Reference Grammar for Students of English, by R.A. Close) (Commonwealth Printing Press Ltd) 第119頁：

… Other collective nouns occur only in the singular form but with a plural verb, eg.

These cattle are on their way to market.

These people are waiting for their passports.

Police are controlling the crowds.

■《改正英語學習中的常犯錯誤》（Correcting Common Errors in English, by R. D. Tracey) 第363頁：

Wrong: The police enforces law and order.

Right: The police enforce law and order.

■《朗文英語語法教程》（Longman Advanced Learners’ Grammar, by Mark Foley & Diane Hall）（上海外語教育出版社）第251頁：

有些集體名詞一般總后接動詞復數形式，比如cattle, police, people：

The police are investigating his accusation of fraud.

■《英語語法大全》(A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, by Randolph Quirk, etc)（華東師范大學出版社）第413-414d頁：

下列名詞并沒有復數標記但用作復數：……

(iii) police: “The police have caught the burglar.”

■《柯林斯COBUILD英語用法詞典》 (Collins Cobuild English Usage)（上海外語教育出版社）第521頁：

Police is a plural noun. You use a plural form of a verb after it.

The police were called to the scene of the crime.

■《英語交際語法》 (A Communicative Grammar of English, by Geoffrey Leech & Jan Svartvik)（上海外語教育出版社）第469-470頁：

(B) 只用作復數的名詞

……

Police: The police were checking all the cars entering the city.

■《朗文英語語法》(Longman English Grammar, by G. L. Alexander) 外語教學與研究出版社，第2.29節：

下列集合名詞沒有復數形式，但它們須用復數動詞：

cattle (牛)…… the police (警察)……

以上辭書的有關說明應該可以作為“the police 用作主語時要用復數不用單數”的有力支持！

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