student asking question

Does the meaning of sentence change if I said "the cops with knives" ?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes, the meaning would change slightly if you changed this sentence to begin with "the cops with knives". This would imply that out of all the cops, only the ones with knives are going in to slice him up. The original sentence, however, implies that all the cops are going in and are using knives to slice him up. While the meaning isn't too much different if you changed it, the sentence would sound more unnatural if it were changed to "the cops with knives".

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