YOU are welcome to this edition: “…in their
various constituencies to systhesise (synthesize,
preferably) grass root (sic) opinions on this
all important (all-important) project.” Not my
view: grassroots opinions….
“In many respect (respects) it is out of tune
with modern reality….”
“Nigeria has never degenerated to (into) this
level, security wise.”
“That is why the state governments need to
be given the impetus to pool their wisdom and
resources together….” Delete the last word in
the extract.
“…the states and local governments sufficiently financially empowered to take care of its
(their) responsibilities.” There should be a conjunction between ‘sufficiently’ and ‘financially’.
The next two lexical frauds are from the
Editorial of one of the newspapers under review
today: “The minister exposed the shock find
during an official visit to PHCN’s facilities in
(on) the premises of the….”
“…contributed to PHCN’s woeful (abysmal)
failure to provide regular electricity supply to
the nation.Still on the recurring pool of grammatical
disasters: “The minister had, on Tuesday, drew
(drawn) the ire of workers by arguing that….”
“…the federal government must embark on
some cost saving (cost-saving measures….”
“His arguments on the introduction of
N5,000 notes was (were)….”
“FG to sanction DISCOs over over-billing of
customers” A rewrite: “FG to sanction DISCOs
for overbilling customers”
“Teachers employed by the Parents Teachers
Association (PTA) to complement.” Education
Today: Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
“CANNU donates to flood relief (floodrelief) fund”
“Eduwatch gathers students, scholars together” Yank off the last word in the excerpt.
“Geepee proudly introduces world class
(world-class) multilayer (multi-layer) composite panels…no painting, no maintainence”
Bloated pride: maintenance!
THE GUARDIAN Opinion Page of May 26
circulated two improprieties: “With preparations in top gear, and barring any last minute
(last-minute) hitches….”
“The final death nail (sic) came with the
present political dispensation that began in
2000 that paid lip-service to governance.” Get it
right: death knell or just knell. There is nothing
like ‘final death nail’!
“If the Abia PDP stalwarts have forgotten, we
will gladly remind them that candidates who
stand for elections under (on) the platform
(platforms) of political parties….”
“Kaduna gears up for LG polls amidst (amid)
fears of violence”
“Records show that their actions and inactions, in the past, have (had) contributed in
(to)….”
“Non-partisan intelligence driven mechanism panacea to Boko Haram” A rewrite:
“Non-partisan, intelligence-driven mechanism,
panacea to Boko Haram “The elders also said they are (were) in
support of the probe of alleged missing….”
(SOUTH EAST NEWS, May 20)
“Therefore, it behooves on our sports authorities to rise up to the occasion and restore
the country’s lost glory in (to) many of the
sports….”
FEEDBACK
RE: Which one: ‘celebrant’ or ‘celebrator’? Shorthand is phonetical. Some of us did
shorthand and also taught it. In shorthand
dictation and/or transcription, one should be
sure which—British or American English! We
find out even though Nigerians are basically
pro-British, their pronunciations are majorly
pro-American. Shorthand writers are usually
advised to adopt British English because of
implications to writing and transcription. The
foregoing is indicative there are points of difference between British and American English.
So, let us not confuse issues. Reference to the
words, ‘celebrant’ and ‘celebrator’: It should
be pointed out that they are not the same in
British English. For instance, someone celebrating something e.g. a party is a celebrator. The
Catholic priest celebrating Mass is a celebrant.
In a wedding Mass, the priest is the celebrant
while the couple constitutes the celebrators.
– Prof. A. Ugwu Obayi/08068861837
CONTRARY to Sunny Agbontaen’s opinion
on the effective use of the word, ‘celebrator’, I
think ‘celebrator’ is more appropriate in this
our clime. Nigeria was colonized by the Britons
and, as such, we ought to speak the Queen’s
English without adulteration of any kind. It is
totally unethical of any individual to combine
the American English with that of the Britons
in a formal speech or an article. The use of the
word, ‘celebrant’ is unacceptable in our learning
society.
– Itoro Esq., Uyo/09067592524
IF the late Pa Bayo Oguntuase, the English language
guru, will hear that some Nigerian journalists
are still hyphenating phrasal verbs, committing
a blunder like ‘point accusing finger’, a solecism
like ‘reoccur’, a pleonasm like ‘return back’, he
will weep in his grave because he had corrected
all these errors over and over again. Thank God
you have stepped into his shoes and you are do- ing creditably. More power to your elbow and
may God bless you.
– Osabenyi Onefeli/08066227593
WORTHY brother, latest editions of Oxford
and Longman dictionaries say: ‘clap in prison/
jail/irons’—not ‘clamp…into jail’ as used on
April 29, 2020 (see line 5, paragraph 2 of your
back-page column in Daily Sun of the above
edition. Can ‘clamp’ and ‘clap’ be used interchangeably in the context?
– Dr. Stanley Nduagu/Aba/08062925996
COLUMNIST’S RESPONSE: Both words
cannot be used interchangeably. One of the
meanings of ‘clamp’, according to Longman’s
Dictionary of Contemporary English, 7th Edition, for Advanced Learners, is: ‘to put limits
on what someone is allowed to do’—which, by
contextual extrapolation, is sheer imprisonment which informed my usage of it. ‘Clamping
someone into jail’ is indicative of all manner
of restrictions and sanctions, after due judicial
processes, usually.
‘Clapping somebody in prison/jail/irons’ is
merely literary and has an element of suddenness—it is not as deep and legalistic as ‘clamping someone into jail’.
ADDENDA
DEAR contributors, I prefer that messages
are sent to me via my email portal—not SMS—
except they are not for publication. Thank you
all for your usually cerebral interventions.
IT would be further interactive if Oga Sunny
Agbontaen could reestablish his stance on this
week’s subject by way of elucidation and possibly responding to the foregoing observations
and declarations.

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