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Pedram
the community vs. the general public
Hello. can I use both "the community" and "the general public" in the below sentence?
Low risk offenders should be allowed to undertake certain unpaid work, which benefits both the offenders themselves and the community (the general public).
Thanks!
Oct 27, 2017 2:51 PM
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Answers · 7
'General public' would normally refer to a much wider group of people than community, which is much more local. I wouldn't use the two together like this.
October 27, 2017
You could use either, but I think that 'the community' is better here. As Nick said, 'general public' and 'society' refer to a larger group of people than 'community'. If you used 'community', you would be referring to the people that live around the offender. Perhaps in the same town, or in the same suburb. Those are the people that are more likely to be affected by that one offender. The other two options are more likely to be used for (say) the population of the entire country, or at least the whole city.
October 28, 2017
I guess so, but the word "community" is able to be used to refer to a smaller group of people, like " anime community".
October 27, 2017
