2) Bill was taken to hospital. (We don't need to know which one).

Use the third person, plural form 'are' when referring to police in general. The word police is an aggregate noun, a word representing an indefinite number of parts; aggregate nouns have no singular form.

The police are blocking off the street where the accident occurred.

to hospital.

to the hospital можно, когда вы не являетесь пациентом, а, например, работаете там или навестить пришли. По Мерфи что-то такое помнится.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=242586&langid=18

If we're talking about the police as an institution, then probably we'd use the singular. So "The police is part of society".

But if, as in your example, we can imagine individual police officers standing by the roadside, then perhaps we'd be more inclined to use the plural.

(by Kenneth Garland, Bristol, UK)

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=242586&langid=18

Murphy Raymond. English Grammar in Use. 3rd edition
Unit 74 (про hospital)
Unit 79 (про police)

не дам, текст там сканированный, лень всё делать:)

Борена,

если речь об экзамене, следуйте Мерфи, обычно на него ориентируются, это я Вам как бывший препод говорю)

принципиально

а что он пишет по этому поводу?

про hospital как я уже объяснила, про police как в wikianswers примерно

Jack had an accident last week. He was taken to hospital. He's still
in hospital now. (as a patient).

http://bookz.ru/authors/raimond-merfi/murphyrmnd01/page-16-murphyrmnd01.html

We always use a plural verb with police:
* The police have arrested a friend of mine. (not 'The police has')
* Do you think the police are well-paid?

http://bookz.ru/authors/raimond-merfi/murphyrmnd01/page-17-murphyrmnd01.html

не только, school, church и т.д. Например, как ученик Вы go to school, at school, а как родитель - go to the school, на собрание, например.

так это уже перевод, от него не зависит употребление мн/ед числа в языке оригинала.

а если перевод с английского не на русский, а на другой язык, в котором свои правила?)

связь, конечно, можно найти, но на перевод лучше не ориентироваться, имхо.

а исключения можно найти всегда. я обычно говорила своим студентам что-то вроде "police всегда употребляется с глаголом мн. числа. Нет, ну не всегда, конечно, но для вас - всегда!" (и так по многим правилам, запомнят основные, с исключениями разберутся)

"The county police are utterly at fault," said he,
"but perhaps your wider experience has suggested
some conceivable explanation.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

Bill was taken to the hospital. That is the way it is often said but is not really correct. By saying "the hospital" you imply that there is only ONE hospital anywhere which is untrue. Usually there are many hospitals around. The truly correct way is to say: "Bill was taken to a hospital." Even English speakers are often incorrect in their language.

Всем известно, что есть правила, а не некоторые случаи.

A few 'institutional' nouns take no definite article when a certain role is implied: for example, at sea (as a sailor), in prison (as a convict), and at/in college (for students). Among this group, BrE has in hospital (as a patient) and at university (as a student), where AmE requires in the hospital and at the university (though AmE does allow in college and in school). When the implied roles of patient or student do not apply, the definite article is used in both dialects.