Car theft

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Rotter

#452500 Wed, 12 Dec 07 05:23 PM

1. He went to police to report the theft of his car.

2. He went to police to complain about the theft of his car.

3. He went to police to lodge a complain about the theft his car.

Are all fine?
It may be 'the police' here. I am not sure.

Rotter

Joined on Sun, Jul 24 2005

Japan

Regular Member (655)

Я люблю российских девочек.

Avangi

#452502 Wed, 12 Dec 07 05:40 PM

Rotter wrote:
1. He went to police to report the theft of his car.

2. He went to police to complain about the theft of his car.

3. He went to police to lodge a complain about the theft his car.

Are all fine?
It may be 'the police' here. I am not sure.

3. He went to police to lodge a complaint about the theft of his car.

Hi,

"The police" would be more acceptable." ("Police" implies "some police" or "any police" rather than "the police.")

Best wishes, - A.

Avangi

Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007

Senior Member (3,676)

". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier

Grammar Geek

#452505 Wed, 12 Dec 07 06:01 PM

In the first one, he is making the police aware that he car was stolen. It's official.

In the second one, he is complaining about it. It's not official. Why aren't there more police around? If you had patrolled my street, my car would not have been stolen, etc.

The third one, even with the corrections above, is needlessly wordy and not precise. You lodge a complaint about your neighbor's excessive noise, or your neighbor's dog running around without a leash, but you don't "lodge a complaint" about a crime like theft.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,990)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Rotter

#452506 Wed, 12 Dec 07 06:02 PM

Avangi
I made a mistake when writing the third sentence. I forgot the prepostion 'of '.
The word 'complaint' is correct here. It is the noun. The verb is 'complain'.

Do you discard the first and the second sentences?

4. He went to the police to make a complaint about the theft of his car.
How about the foruth sentence? I think it will be fine to say 'make a complaint'.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Grammar Geek
What is the proper sentence in this context?
In this country I am obliged to report to the police. The insurance companies have stipulated rules regarding thefts. They want to read the police report as a part of their investigations.
What is the correct sentence?

It may be the following:

I complained that the car had been stolen yesterday/last week.

Rotter

Grammar, Verbs, Nouns

Avangi

#452573 Wed, 12 Dec 07 11:32 PM

Hi, Rotter,

Sorry, I wasn't sure if your question was about police procedure or English style. By not mentioning your first two samples I meant to imply they were "fine", but there's room for improvement. Although I've had my share of dealings with [the] police, I'm not very strong on the terminology. I think the "police report" is what the insurance companies want to see, and I think it can come into being as the result of an officer investigating at the scene or as the result of a citizen complaint. I don't know if there's a difference between reporting an "incident", reporting a "crime", "making" a complaint, "lodging" a complaint, and "filing" a complaint. However, I agree that "complaining" to the police may not necessarily result in a "police report" or "complaint" being issued - but it can. And I believe a "complaint" is an official document of some kind, in some jurisdictions, as opposed to sombody saying, "What's your complaint?"

I agree with GG that some of these are "wordy" as opposed to "lean and mean."

Regarding your question about the new sample, #4, as I said, I don't know if the difference in terminology is significant.

Best regards, - A.

Avangi

Regards, Difference between, Sample

Rotter

#452888 Thu, 13 Dec 07 06:58 PM

Let say your/someone's car was stolen.

1. First you go to the police station.

2. Do you report it to them? OR Do you complain about it to them?

[It is my understnding that reporting/complaining to the police is necessary in all cultures.

Rotter

Grammar Geek

#452908 Thu, 13 Dec 07 08:33 PM

You report it to them.

Grammar Geek

Sarangadhar

#452946 Thu, 13 Dec 07 10:47 PM

Grammar Geek wrote:

In the first one, he is making the police aware that he car was stolen. It's official.

In the second one, he is complaining about it. It's not official. Why aren't there more police around? If you had patrolled my street, my car would not have been stolen, etc.

The third one, even with the corrections above, is needlessly wordy and not precise. You lodge a complaint about your neighbor's excessive noise, or your neighbor's dog running around without a leash, but you don't "lodge a complaint" about a crime like theft.

'been' should not be present in the underlined part. Am I right? Please correct me, if I am wrong. It is not a nitpicking; just trying to clear myself.

Sarangadhar