I was recently asked by a non native English speaker why "the" isn't necessary before "customer service" in the sentence "You should call customer service if there's a problem". Is it because "customer service" is short for "the customer service department"? Are there other examples where we don't need to include "the" before the object when using verbs such as "contact", "call", etc?
2 Answers
You are right. When talking about parts of an organization, it is normal to shorten
the xyz department
to
xyz
Here are some examples:
Accounts has prepared the budgets for the next financial year.
You need to talk to production about that
Simon in human resources may be able to help you
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I once dated Sharon from Accounts. She was very particular about the capital A. Commented Mar 8 at 10:03
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1@MichaelHarvey I guess she wasn't a fan of e e cummings then... Commented Mar 9 at 22:34
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No, and she (and I) would write 'Mike, Accounts have prepared the budgets for the next financial year, and Building Services are coming to fix the aircon' (even if it was one person)'. Us whacky Brits, eh? Commented Mar 10 at 0:09
In this case, "customer service" isn't referring to a specific department within a company, but rather the general concept of a service provided to customers. We don't need "the" when talking about general ideas or concepts.
The case is the same as in: If you have any questions about benefits, you can contact human resources.
However, there are situations where "the" becomes necessary:
If you're referring to a specific department or person: "I spoke with the manager of customer service." For emphasis: "The customer service at that company is excellent!"
