The Press Note That Cannot Be Signed
A stenographer in a CAPF public relations cell has typed the draft press note below for release to local newspapers. The Assistant Commandant will sign it only after the language is checked for grammar, consistency and official tone. The draft reads: 'The local police has arrested three persons who was involved in the incident at the check post. The operation was conducted by a joint team of CAPF and district police, and no casualties was reported. Further investigation are going on. The public is request to remain calm and not to believe in rumours.' The Assistant Commandant also wants the note kept under 70 words, with the place and time of the incident named, and with no admission of negligence by any force. A reporter has separately asked whether 'police has' or 'police have' is correct, and the stenographer must answer without contradicting the note finally issued.
1. List the grammatical and usage errors in the draft and give the reason for each correction.
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- 'The local police has arrested' - 'police' is a plural noun in formal Indian official English, so 'police have arrested'. 2. 'three persons who was involved' - the relative pronoun takes its number from 'persons', so 'who were involved'. 3. 'no casualties was reported' - 'casualties' is plural, so 'were reported'. 4. 'Further investigation are going on' - 'investigation' is singular, so 'is going on', or use 'further investigations are on'. 5. 'The public is request' - a passive needs the past participle, so 'is requested'. 6. 'believe in rumours' - 'believe in' means to have faith in something; the intended sense is 'believe rumours', with no preposition. 7. 'the incident at the check post' is vague - a release should name the place and date. Each error is one of agreement, voice or preposition, and the stenographer should correct by rule, not by ear.
2. Rewrite the note in official register, under 70 words, naming a place and time, with no admission of negligence.
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Model rewrite: 'At 21:40 on 12 June, a joint team of the Central Armed Police Forces and district police arrested three persons at the Raghopur check post in connection with an attack on a patrol. No casualty was reported. Investigation is continuing. Citizens are requested to remain calm, to avoid the area, and to pass information to the control room on 100 rather than act on rumours.' That is about 65 words. Four choices carry the official tone: the time and place lead; the forces are named in full on first use; 'no casualty was reported' states a fact without conceding fault; and the closing sentence gives the public an action rather than an instruction not to worry. Passive constructions are kept only where the actor is unknown or not to be named.
3. How should the stenographer answer the reporter's question about 'police has' versus 'police have'?
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The answer is that 'police' is treated as a plural noun in standard and Indian official English, so 'the police have arrested' is correct and 'the police has' is not, just as one would not write 'the people has'. The plural takes a plural verb, and 'police' never takes the article 'a'. Some newspaper copy uses 'police has' by treating the word as an institution, but that is a style choice, and the force cannot issue one form in its release and defend another to the press. The stenographer should say plainly that the released note uses 'police have', that the singular 'a police officer' is available where one person is meant, and that consistency across the release, the reporter's quotation and any follow-up note is the point, because a corrected release that is quoted in the old form creates the very confusion it was meant to remove.