Two men robbed his house last night.

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Two men robbed his house last night.

Is the above sentence correct? I wonder if a house can be robbed.

Thanks.

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Type: Question • Score: 6 • Views: 2,612 • Replies: 26

[+3] - Old Goat - 02/16/2011If the thief sounds reveille just as he's leaving with his booty, have you just been bugled?

Yes, it is correct. Although it may seem slightly nonsensical, English speakers will refer to a place being robbed. "A tall, dark man robbed that store yesterday."

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@tanguatlay,

Well, strictly speaking, a house cannot be robbed -- it can be burglarized.

At common law, "robbery" is the taking and carrying away of the property of another, from his/her person or presence, with intent to steal, by force or by threat of force.

Burglary involves breaking and entering into the house of another (at night) with the intent to commit a felony in that house.

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Burglarized?

Do you mean burgled?

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

The member was asking a question about English usage, not the arcana of anal-retentive lawyer wannabes . . .

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I've always liked burgoo . . .

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If the thief sounds reveille just as he's leaving with his booty, have you just been bugled?

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@tanguatlay,

Quote:

Two men robbed his house last night.

Is the above sentence correct? I wonder if a house can be robbed.

Tangu, you are a smart man. Or maybe you're a woman. Not many native English speakers would bother to make that distinction, or even recognise it, but you're right.

The man was robbed. His house was burgled.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Quote:

Tangu, you are a smart man. Or maybe you're a woman. Not many native English speakers would bother to make that distinction, or even recognise it, but you're right.

The man was robbed. His house was burgled.

I am a woman.

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@Old Goat,

Old Goat wrote:

Burglarized?

Do you mean burgled?

I believe 'burglarized' is AmE. 'Burgled' is BrE.

1 Reply

@tanguatlay,

I believe you are correct . . . and i'm not all that gullible . . .

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@Ticomaya,

Quote:

Well, strictly speaking, a house cannot be robbed -- it can be burglarized.

Strictly speaking, a house can be robbed, just as a store can open and close, seemingly by itself at certain times of the day.

What Tico meant was "legally speaking", blah blah blah .

Two men robbed his house of [something(s)] last night.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

The member was asking a question about English usage, not the arcana of anal-retentive lawyer wannabes . . .

She was asking whether a house could be robbed. I gave her correct information.

Dumbass.

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@Ticomaya,

Quote:

She was asking whether a house could be robbed. I gave her correct information.

You gave her misleading information, Tico, not correct information.

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@Ticomaya,

No, you didn't, because a house can be robbed, and that is English usage--**** for brains.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

No, you didn't, because a house can be robbed, and that is English usage--**** for brains.

In what sense can a house be robbed? It can't be. Or are you saying it's colloquial, and that at some point because a great many people who do not know any better incorrectly refer to a house being robbed, it suddenly becomes correct usage?

Twit.

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@Ticomaya,

Quote:

In what sense can a house be robbed? It can't be. Or are you saying it's colloquial, and that at some point because a great many people who do not know any better incorrectly refer to a house being robbed, it suddenly becomes correct usage?

In all likelihood, Tico, you've been saying all your life, at least until you became a rule thumpin' pedant, that such and such a bank was robbed. English even has bank robbers; these are people who rob banks.

Two men robbed my bank yesterday.

Sounds completely reasonable, does it not?

If a bank can be robbed, then there's no conceivably reason that, in the same sense, the same can happen to a house.

Those great many people who you seek to malign are the ones who have it correct and you, Tico, are mistaken. And don't forget, you too, everyone, actually, speaks colloquial English.

In this instance, glory be, the "Twit" is right.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

English even has bank robbers; these are people who rob banks.
Two men robbed my bank yesterday.
Sounds completely reasonable, does it not?

No. (though I shrink from pointing this out, lest I be thought boorish.)

The bank owns the money which was stolen.

The house (which was burgled/ burglarised) does not own the goods which were stolen.

That's why you can rob a bank, but not (strictly speaking, and what's wrong with that) a house.

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

I am saying, fuckwsit, that customary usage over time and broadly used does indeed trump the arcana of anal-retentive lawyer wannabes, which is what i've said all along. Jackass.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Quote:

No. (though I shrink from pointing this out, lest I be thought boorish.)

The bank owns the money which was stolen.

The house (which was burgled/ burglarised) does not own the goods which were stolen.

That's why you can rob a bank, but not (strictly speaking, and what's wrong with that) a house.

Not boorish in this case, just wrong, McTag.

You don't speak strictly. You take all manner of unstrict choices with the English you use. I just took one there. Certain fields, like law, medicine, engineering do use language in a stricter fashion, and then you whine and kvetch about them creating language specific to their fields.

The store was robbed.

The ice cream stand was robbed.

The shop was robbed.

The wholesaler was robbed.

1 Reply

Two men robbed his house last night.

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