Burglary vs Robbery
02.02.2012 | Блог

Don’t Say: Officer, they must have committed the robbery when we were on vacation.
Say Instead: Officer, they must have committed the burglary when we were on vacation.

Don’t Say: Officer, they must have committed the robbery when we were on vacation.

Say Instead: Officer, they must have committed the burglary when we were on vacation.

Here’s Why: Burglars don’t like to get up close and personal with their victims. “Burglary” refers solely to the act of entering a place with the idea of taking something that doesn’t belong to you, and then, if you aren’t caught, taking it. “Robbery,” on the other hand, is taking something from someone by force. There’s no sneaking around involved—unless maybe you’re an unlucky burglar who gets caught in the act and resorts to force to get the job done. In the example sentence, where the bad guys did their dirty deed while the family was gone, it’s clearly a case of burglary. Additional correct examples are:

  • After she was robbed at gunpoint, Mary hated going out alone at night.
  • I can’t imagine how we were burglarized the day after Scam Security Systems came and installed our alarm.
  • The threat of highway robbery made a lot of carriage travelers nervous.
  • He took up burglary just so he could wear a black cat suit and climb up the side of buildings at night.