Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[rice07]

Hi

The Criminal Investigation Bureau on Friday took into custody a manager of a company that sold illegal software allowing those interested in obtaining private information to send unidentified SMS text messages to infect cellphones.

I assume that such a structure(the part in bold) for the example in a newspaper aims at making the antecedent and the identifying relative clause closer. But I wonder if ' to take into custody somebody ' is also a common expression and has the same meaning as ' to take somebody into custody '? Thanks for your help.

sincerely
rice

[Suzanne]

Hi!

"To take into custody" means to apprehend, capture, or arrest someone. You could also say "in custody" or "in police custody."

Other examples:
As he left the building, the police took the alleged thief into custody.
Bernard Madoff is now in custody for cheating thousands of people out of their savings.
The accused murderer is in police custody and being held at the county prison.
After an extensive manhunt, the criminal was finally captured and placed into custody.

Does that make sense?

[rice07]

Hi!

Thank you! I see what you meant.

But I'm interested in knowing whether the word order for the example(... took into custody a manager ...) is common or not? in particular the position of the object(a manager).

I know:

Please take your mother a cup of tea.= Please take a cup of tea for/to your mother.

I took her some money.= I took some money TO her.

Now I'm forming a concept(perhaps a misconception) that whether the expression ' to take into custody ', on one hand, is something like a verb transitive(and its direct object is ' a manager '), or rather, like a phrasal verb, but, on the other hand, they(the expression ' to take into custody ' and the phrasal verbs) seem different from the concept I'm forming, because they are different on structures(see * below).

* A verb is considered to be a phrasal verb if it consists of two or more words. One of these words is always a verb; the other may be an adverb(e.g. throw away), a preposition(e.g. look into), or both an adverb and a preposition(e.g. put up with).

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Here're some examples:

1. Yesterday a manager of a trading company, alleged to engage in drugs smuggling, was taken into police custody.

2. Yesterday the police took a manager of a trading company- who was alleged to engage in drugs smuggling- into custody.

3. Yesterday the police took into custody a manager of a trading company who was alleged to engage in drugs smuggling.

I have no trouble understanding #1 and #2, but as for #3, this is the first time that I've read ' ... took into custody a manager ... '.

I'm sorry for my ignorance about English, if I have been being so dull. By the way, if not too trouble, could I have your further elaboration over that? I'm much obliged to YOU and hope I didn't cramp your style.

Sincerely
rice

[Suzanne]

Please! Keep asking! Sometimes it takes several tries, sometimes from several teachers, to make things clear. English isn't easy, and the rules can be sooooooo hard to understand. That's what so great about Dave's ESL Cafe--there are many opportunities to get information.

[zorro (4)]

Good observations rice.

I think you're right about the verb complement interfering with the relative clause.

Here's another example.

Mr Washington yesterday put into a bank the money he had worked very hard to earn through his dealings in online trading over the course of a decade.

This kind of writing style is a little bit clumsy, although not grammatically incorrect. It's more common to find this as a passive sentence.

The money Mr Washington had worked very hard to earn through his dealings in online trading over the course of a decade, was yesterday put into a bank.

Or going back to your original quote;

The Criminal Investigation Bureau on Friday took into custody a manager of a company that sold illegal software allowing those interested in obtaining private information to send unidentified SMS text messages to infect cellphones.

A manager of a company that sold illegal software allowing those interested in obtaining private information to send unidentified SMS text messages to infect cellphones, was on Friday taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Making the sentence passive is a much wider accepted approach.

Hope this helps.

[Suzanne]

What a great response! I'm going to save this for my class. Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive explanation.

Even teachers can learn on Dave's ESL Cafe website!

[rice07]

Hi teachers!

Originally, now that it's not the natural English, I shouldn't have insisted on getting the bottom of the matter. But what if my sons ask me the similar questions of English? There's a Chinese proverb- You can't gain knowledge without practice. Anyway, thanks to you, I'm now well-informed, and I know how to explain it.

Under your tutelage, things have become increasingly clear. Thanks for your patience to have elaborated on that. It's the luckiest for English learners here to have plenty of nice and erudite teachers like Suzanne, Zorro(4),and ... who devote yourselves to helping us with our questions of English. Based on the above, English lerners in Dave's ESL Cafe are bound to make progress with each passing day.

Yet again, I am greatly indebted to YOU, indeed.

Sincerely
rice