“IF what the campaigners are doing is allowed to succeed, precedence (a precedent) would have been set.”
“…he had always shy (shied) away from politics but always manage (managed) to find himself in politics.”
“I think us poor Nigerians that only has (have) the rough edged (a hyphen) stick to hold at times like this….” Task forces as solution: a time like this or at times like these.
THE GUARDIAN of October 3 offered two unpardonable and extremely vexatious gaffes. “To round up the visit was the trip to the New Place, the site of the house where Shakespeare died. “ Get it right: round off (not round up).
”…the production was heavily spiced with new innovations which, however, still retained its original flavours.” ‘New innovations’ sounds illogical. An innovation cannot be old, relatively speaking. What do you think?
“What was the platform in which the cold war….” The platform on which the cold war.…
“Lack of towing vehicles hinder (hinders) FRSC operations”
“UNIPORT alumni condemns killing” No news: alumni (plural); alumnus (singular). The confusion usually arises from ‘alumni association’ which takes a singular verb.
“Blood thirsty cannibals?” Beyond blood-thirsty (take note of the hyphen) cannibals, are their cannibals that are not blood thirsty? Flesh is intertwined with blood.
From Daily Trust of October 11 come the following lexical tragedies: “Buhari tours flood ravaged (flood-ravaged) states today”
“FG sets up committee on teachers (teachers’) housing projects”
“TDNA: Ekiti secondary schools’ teachers dump ASUSS” Get it right: school teachers. This personalization of collocation is wrong because teachers teach students—not schools!
“…the outcome of the investigation by the police of (into) the contentious SSS report….”
“…they will be further emboldened to create even greater harm to our fledging democratic experiment.” Is our democracy still fledgling (note the spelling)?
Still on Daily Trust under review: “…were wasted by yet to be identified gunmen.” Gripping fear, gaping security deficit: yet-to-be-identified gunmen.
“Like (As) before, a major scarcity of petrol is being currently experienced….” ‘Is currently being’ is antithetical to existential humanism! Yank away ‘is’ and ‘currently’.
“…who recently offered a clue on (to) the issue….”
“The NNPC is known to have imported more fuel into the country….” Where else would it have imported it into? Delete ‘into the country’!
“…re-channel same (the same) through uninhabited areas?”
“Education Minister threatens contractors’ revocation” Contract revocation is not the same thing as contractors’ revocation. In other words, the minister threatened contractors—not revocation!
“Ghana: Groups call for scraping of study leave” Spell-check: scrapping.
Lastly from Daily Trust: “… while Nokia, Blackberry rating drop (drops).”
The Guardian of October 9, starting from its front page sub-headline, nurtured copious flaws: “Northern Christians reject govs (governors’) peace forum” Apart from the lack of a basic stress mark (an apostrophe) after the word in question, there are standard abbreviations in English language—‘gov’ is certainly not one of them. It is just like writing ‘Pres’ for ‘President. Such careless writing highlights journalistic ignorance and laziness under the cover of house style!
“NEMA alerts on (to) fresh plans to release water from Camerounian (Cameroonian preferably) dams” Alert by/to or simply alert, depending on context—not ‘alert on’.
“Meanwhile, the Lagos League of Political Parties (LLPP) has congratulated…for (on/upon) his victory at the tribunal….”
Still on THE GUARDIAN of October 9: “Akpabio worries (worried) over rot in judiciary” Except if the reporter is imputing that the governor—not the NBA president!—will keep worrying, which I contest!
“We have had a useful business to business (business-to-business) roundtable, which is a follow up (follow-up) to the meeting between….”
Still on the preceding affliction: “NDE, Ondo to partner on job creation initiatives” Adjectival appointment: job-creation initiatives
“Lagos Police Command reads riot act to criminals, seizes (arrests/apprehends/rounds up/picks up…) 130 hoodlums that rape, rob victims” Do we need ‘victims’ here? It is implied! And ‘seize’ is contextually wrong in this lexical environment because it lacks expressive technicality.
“2014: Battle for Anambra governorship race begins” ‘Battle’ and ‘race’ cannot co-occur in the same space. So, it is either the battle or the race that has begun. Therefore, 2014: Battle for Anambra governorship begins or Race for Anambra governorship begins or, preferably, Anambra governorship battle (race) begins.
“My ordeal at the hands of Abacha—Aborisade” Let bygones be bygones: in (not at) the hands of Abacha.
“…ready to be deported back to Nigeria….” Yank off ‘back’ in defence of our lexical freedom!
“…formerly (formally) flags off (sic) an intensive search for Igbo unity over 2015 presidential election….”
“Dangote sets (set) to invest in Sudan”
Lastly from THE NATION ON SUNDAY under review: “Stopping a running stomach” Your health: a runny, not running, stomach!
“Lagos alerts public over (to) Boko Haram crises”
“Oyo SSG escapes assassination attempt” ‘Attempt’ is clearly redundant here. If the man escaped assassination, it means it was an attempt on his life.
“Now she (no to gender insensitivity!) has joined (climbed or jumped on/aboard) the bandwagon of states worldwide which (why the pronoun deviation?) recognize….”
“…the lawmaker took a wholistic assessment of active governance in the country.…” No parley: holistic assessment.
“The Ministry of Finance performed creditably well….” Still keeping track: The ministry performed creditably or well; both words cannot co-function.
“In this exclusive chat, the group talked about their musical carrier (career) and their relationship with other hip-hop groups in the country.”
“It takes sometime (some time) to build a road.” There is a clear distinction between ‘some time’ and ‘sometime’.
“…for the new thing God has in stock (store) for them.”
“Resting in the bossom of God” An improvement: Resting in God’s bosom (note the spelling).
“Okupe was not happy because the governor complained against (about/of) the criminal neglect of federal infrastructures in his state.”
“In his interview with our reporter, he touched on many issues that bother (border) on the nation’s economy.”
“The high population of students in (on) these campuses….”
“There were instances where legislators and other party leaders threw decorum to the dogs and engaged in abusing themselves (one another) and challenging the authority of the Federal Government.”