[fface]

Quote fface

Hi,


...based on the information we received from this informant. They had robbed Kelly, killed her that they had shot her. The detectives are closing in on Jim and Bob, but they still have no idea where to find me.

Hi susan,

"...but they still have no idea where to find me and whether I'm alive or dead."

('me' here refers to the victim Kelly, who is dead but the real killer isn't Bob or Jim)

Can I post the YouTube video about the context here?

Thanks a lot.

[susan53]

No idea if you can post the video - probably not if it's copyright, though if it's on the web you could link to it (please give the exact minutes/seconds of the extract) but

a) the meaning of "close in on" doesn't change - it means "getting nearer to the point to capturing someone" whatever the context is and whoever is involved.

b) your explanation that "me" is the victim makes even less sense than before. If "me" = Kelly, then Kelly must be the speaker and must have disappeared leaving it unclear if she was alive or dead.
The final sentence would make sense like this, but then the first part doesn't, as who is speaking ? If it's all one utterance then the beginning must be spoken by Kelly too - so why does she say "her" rather than "me"? And who are "we" and "they"? And the fact still remains that if the police have already questioned Bob they must know where he is. My new rewrite of the paragraph, with Kelly as speaker would therefore be :

The police suspect that Bob and Jim robbed me, and shot and killed me. They've already found Bob and questioned him, and are closing in on Jim. But they still have no idea where to find my body - or even if I really am dead.

[fface]

Quote susan53

if the police have already questioned Bob they must know where he is.

Hi susan,

What's the difference between 'to interview, to question and to interrogate a suspect' here?

Thank you very much for your great explanation.

[susan53]

"to interview" can be used for any question/answer conversation - eg a job interview; a TV news interview with a politician, an actor, someone involved in a news event; police questioning a witness or a suspect; etc. It could be quite friendly or not, depending on the situation.

"to question" on the other hand suggests a critical stance. Some examples :
...when a reporter once QUESTIONED Lincoln in cryptic fashion, Lincoln refused to make any further statement.
...Pohl confessed the arson while being QUESTIONED about several fires in the Westphalia area.
...Government attorneys, Leavitt said, have QUESTIONED him closely about "five or six loans".

It's not relevant here, but "to question" also has the second meaning of "expressed doubts about" reinforcing the "critical" connotation.
...Lewis and Maund (1979) have QUESTIONED the true significance of social class,
...The governor was not used to having his integrity QUESTIONED.
...(The new passport) is essentially a travel document whose validity has been QUESTIONED by a number of countries.

"to interrogate" suggests that the questioning was "stronger" - possibly that it went on for longer, the questions were harsher etc. Example:
...Kenneth Starr and his deputies INTERROGATED Hillary Clinton for several hours at the White House [/b][/b]

"to interrogate" would also be chosen in a situation where threats, physical violence or torture were involved. Examples :
...The regime has INTERROGATED and imprisoned hundreds of dissidents.
...In the room there was no bed or mattress; nothing. Every day we were INTERROGATED and beaten.

All examples from https://lextutor.ca/conc/eng/

[fface]

Quote susan53

"to question" on the other hand suggests a critical stance.

Hi susan,

Could you please explain what 'a critical stance' refers to?
Could you also please give some examples of 'question' when used in a situation that the police question suspects with suggesting a critical stance?

Thank you very much.

[susan53]

I'm not completely sure what you mean here. It doesn't "refer to" anything. Was your question really "What does it mean?" ? If so, it means to adopt an attitude of potential suspicion or doubt towards something (in our case, the suspect). In other words that they were not necessarily going to believe what they said.

As I said - the verb to question automatically involves this type of attitude. Even if the police are questioning a witness, or even a victim, they have to allow for the possibility that the person is mistaken (witnesses aren't always reliable) or even lying. Just saying : The police questioned the suspect/witness/victim about XXX inevitably suggests that they were open to the possibility that what they heard was not true.

[fface]

Hi susan,

Do 'close in on someone' and 'zero in on someone' mean the same thing here in the example above? The phrase 'zero in on...' also appears in the video at 26:59.

Many thanks.