SATURDAY PUNCH headlines of July 15 shortly welcome us to this new column in this medium.
The essence of this grammatical intervention, beyond its educative fundamentals and knowledge panache, is to insurmountably fill up the vacuum created by the challenging exit of the Chief Priest of the English language in Nigeria, Baba Adebayo Solomon Oguntuase (79), who was buried last weekend.
It is most likely I would not be as clinically authoritative and professorial as Pa Oguntuase, but this robust and dynamic platform will be as interactive as possible, as nobody knows it all. In the same breath, however, whatever I put out here should be a declarative and almost unassailable product of painstaking and largely incontrovertible research. It is not going to be arm-chair or pub stuff! Cerebral and constructive reactions are welcome.
The bracketed words or phrases – excluding attributions, elucidations and comments/remarks – are the correct expressions. My preference is strictly British Standard English. I look forward to a conspectus of lexical and structural contributions or feedback via email, preferably. Other communicative/multimedia channels are grudgingly acceptable, too! Incorrigibility is an anathema here, please.
Let us return to the self-acclaimed “most widely read (sic) newspaper” mentioned above: “Revenue sharing (Revenue-sharing) formula unfair, says Ambode”
Still on Saturday PUNCH under focus: “Funeral service of (for) late (the late)…at Bemil Chapel of the Epiphany in Lagos…on Friday. First: the late…and since the headline began with “Funeral” there was absolutely no need for “late” or do we hold funeral service for living persons?
“The seven bank chief executives currently being investigated by the EFCC for their alleged racketeering roles in the current pension fund scam have been placed under security watch to forestall them escaping outside the country.” A rewrite to save time and space: The seven bank chief executives being investigated by the EFCC for their alleged racketeering roles in the current pension fund scam have been placed under security watch to forestall their escape from the country. The copious blunders in the extract remind me of inflectional Middle English!
“Assailant, vigilante member die in gun duel” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, June 7) Get it right: vigilance member. Alternatively: Assailant, vigilante die in gun duel.
“INEC official arrested over ‘missing’ ballot papers” (THE NATION, June 7) Truth in defence of freedom: ‘arrest’ takes ‘for’—not ‘over’!
“Woman arrested with AK-47, 148 live ammunitions” (THISDAY, June 7) The last word in the extract is uncountable. The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period is gone!
“This will remove the possibility of passing the bulk (buck)” (THE PUNCH, June 7) No pedestrian English.
“The organized private sector took the bull by the horn recently….” For a better society: take the bull by the horns.
“Britain handed over the reigns of power to the politicians.” (THE GUARDIAN, June 7) Modern English: reins of government.
“One even wonders why government did not adopt that method from the onset (outset).” (Vanguard, June 7)
“This is true given the restricted and guarded comments from those who have been priviledged to view the clips.” (Leadership, June 4) Spellings count: privileged.
“Government needs to put (get) its acts together and prosecute the kidnappers.” (Vanguard, June 4) My own comment: get its act (not acts) together.
“Vigilante group accused of murder“ Get it right: vigilance group.
“Apart from all these, the debt recovery (a hyphen confirms class) level of the banks have not been any issue of interest to NDIC.” (THISDAY, June 7) Question CBN has to answer, debt recovery has (not have).
“It is believed in some quarters that the Nigerian Police has….” (THE NATION, June 2) Get it right: the Nigerian Police have.
The next five blunders are from Daily Trust of June 2: “And the leaders, being new on the saddle of political leadership (another comma) were.…” The challenges of good grammar: in the saddle.
“Efforts by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his group to remove Akintola from office was (were) fiercely resisted.” Why the discord?
“In the course of the crisis, Awo and some of his lieutenants were arrested and charged for (with)….”
“The ethnic colouration of the coup led to a counter coup (a hyphen) in July 1966.” Spell-check: coloration.
“Have the previous exercises impacted meaningfully on the lives (life) of the average Nigerian?”
“This could not have been possible if they had been outrightly liquidated.” (Source: as above) ‘Outrightly’ is a Nigerian creation! The right word ‘outright’ functions as an adverb and an adjective. Therefore, it does not require any inflexion. In other words: This could not have been possible if they had been liquidated outright. Even at that, ‘liquidation’ does not need any qualification because of its causative finality. So, if they had been liquidated.
‘Reopening’ abhors hyphenation. It is not automatic that any word with a prefix must go with a hyphen, except where there is a vowel replication. For instance: re-entry, but readmit, readjust, etcetera.
“Legislators, oil chiefs parley on industry enhancing issues” (DAILY SUN, June 2) Imagine the classical excellence a hyphen between ‘industry’ and ‘enhancing’ would have conferred on the headline.
“I said these are (were) beggars and I told my wife I better (I had better) get money ready for them.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, June 2)
“The remains of the Ovie, sources in the town revealed, was (were) later tied….”
“And just last Friday, it was reported that the police has (had) arrested the….” (THE GUARDIAN, June 2)
“The meetings were about some developments alright….” (THE PUNCH, June 2) ‘Alright’ (non-standard) is unacceptable for ‘all right’ in formal settings.
“My suggestion, therefore, is that our National Assembly members should tow (toe) the line of reason.” (THE PUNCH, June 2)
“This is because of the numerous restraints, both social and economical, which is (are) associated with the day to day (day-to-day) life of a convict.”
“…especially those public officers who remain suspect with regards (regard) to their qualifications and credibility to hold public offices.” (Nigerian Tribune, June 2) Alternatively, as regards their qualifications….
“The nation has (had) in the past pardoned and forgiven it’s (sic) past leaders and
“Infact (In fact) every (all) loving parents….” Alternatively, each loving parent
“In the agricultural sector, the two countries can learn a lot from one another (each other).” (Nigerian Tribune, June 3).