Break or come into my house [burglar]

[Piyush toplani]

Is there any difference between the following sentences?
1. A buglar broke into my house at half to ten at last night.
2. A buglar come into my house at half to ten at last night.
I'm mainly concerned of usage of "broke" or "come" in the above sentence. Thank you....<——-Additional question removed by moderator (Florentia52)——->

 

[Cagey]

Usually, we would say that a burglar 'broke' into a house, because a burglar doesn't walk in through a door but gets in illegally, through a window or by breaking a lock. In general, we think of coming into the house against the owner's wishes as 'breaking in'.

If you say that the burglar 'came' into the house, it sounds as though he walked in the ordinary way with the owner's permission.

 

[Piyush toplani]

Okay I understood that but can you give me another word that can replace the word "broke" in the above sentence

 

[Andygc]

Why do you want to replace "broke"? If the burglar forced an entry - by damaging a window or a door - he "broke into" the house.

 

[Piyush toplani]

Actually I want to know if any word is possible that can replace "broke" if any
Thanks for replies...

 

[Loob]

"Broke into" is what we would say, Piyush toplani.

 

[Keith Bradford]

A police report might say "Persons unknown forced an entry into the property..."

 

[DonnyB]

Actually I want to know if any word is possible that can replace "broke" if any

Not really. In ordinary everyday English, "broke into" is the way almost everybody would say it.

 

[Piyush toplani]

Okay thank you all...

 

[Edinburgher]

People don't always lock their doors, especially when they are at home. A burglar often doesn't need to break anything to carry out his activity.
Still, the expression "break into" is so well established that we might use it even when there is no forced entry.

You could say "entered" instead of "broke into".

By the way:

at half to ten not idiomatic -> half past nine
at last night -> last night (no "at")

 

[Andygc]

the burglar forced an entry

Persons unknown forced an entry

An echo around here?

 

[Keith Bradford]

Edinburgher is right - we've been confusing burglary with housebreaking. According to my law dictionary (L.B. Curzon, Dictionary of law, Pitman, 1988):
Burglary: entering any building as a trespasser and with intent to steal, etc.
Breaking and entering: burglary committed by one who, in the night, broke and entered a dwelling-house with intent to commit a felony.

So if we correct both the original sentences for spelling and idiom, we have:

Is there any difference between the following sentences?
1. A burglar broke into my house at half past nine last night.
2. A burglar came into my house at half past nine last night.
​

And the answer is "Yes: in English law, if he broke into a house at night he wasn't merely a burglar, he was a housebreaker. This is a more serious offence."