Workers’, Not Worker’s, Day

Workers’, Not Worker’s, Day

Media Gaffes With Ebere Wabara

“APC insensitive, only interested in power grabbing (power-grabbing) plot—PDP”
“NSITF sensitises (sensitizes, preferably) workers on (to) workplace safety” (NATIONAL NEWS, April 29)
“2023: Dissecting Orji Kalu’s significant response on (to) presidential aspiration” (Politics & Power, April 29)

“This Worker’s Day make your home feel like a home again” (Full-page advertorial by Fidelity Bank PLC, THISDAY, May 1) A rewrite: This Workers’ Day, (take note of the comma) make your home feel like a home again.”
“Dear Goal Getter (Goal-getter)…Happy Worker’s (sic) Day” (FirstBank’s full-page advertorial, THISDAY, May 1)

“Igbo’s (Igbo) in US berate South-east govs over region’s insecurity”
“Happy Workers (Workers’) Day” (From the management and staff of the National Pension Commission)
“Kelechi Iheanacho: From Foxes (Foxes’) flop to Rodgers’ ace” (GLOBAL SOCCER, May 1)
“…said the Enugu-born striker has (had) a place in the senior national team despite the array of strikers it boasts of” (Source: as above)
“…to save the state from ‘misrule and sluggish development’ which has (have) been its lot over the years.”

“…encouraging things to continue go (going) wrong in God’s Own State”
“…said that (otiose) his international experience has (had) exposed him to the location of resources which could be….”
“Tompolo’s monarch assures Ijaws (Ijaw) won’t be instigated into another war with neighbours” Who did the monarch assure?

“…especially now that bank account holders across the country have increased by 35 million between January and May 30, 2020, according to a recent data (a recent piece of data) by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS).”
“…passion for improving the living standards (standard) of Plateau citizens in line with the vision of….”

“…as well as economic development has restored confidence back to Plateau State and serve as an attraction for investors to come into (to) the State (unnecessary capitalization).” Remove ‘back’ in the interest of the lexical rescue team.

“Customs intercepts 5 containers of expired bottle water, other contraband” (BUSINESS/MARITIME NEWS, May 5) Get it right: bottled water/drink
Wrong: in memoriam of…
Right: in memory of….
“…to stimulate employment, build more roads and other social amenities or solve one social problem or the other.” Going by the contextual pluralism of the extract, the right expression should be: one social problem or another.

The same edition of THISDAY circulated two headline gaffes: “Group assures on rancour free PDP Congress” Still on this recurrent blunder: who did the group assure? And this: rancour-free….

“Adewusi condemns do or die politics” This way: do-or-die politics.

“The race to Government House in Kano has began in earnest as….” Without any effort: The race has begun….

“The non Passage (sic) of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) did not help matters….” This way: The non-passage (take note of the hyphen and lower case ‘p’)…. .

“I seize this opportunity to express gratitude to my readers for their commitment and patronage.”.

Last week’s edition of this medium offered our teeming readers copious goofs: “Ex-president Umaru Yar’Adua was on his sick bed….” No eavesdropping: in his sick bed. One of the clerics who allegedly visited him sat on his sick bed. Got the point?

“Asiwaju…a gubernatorial aspirant in Ogun State under (on) the platform of….”

“…those who would have uttered (what?) them reduced everyone to spectators while they reached for each other’s throats.” Get it right: each other’s throat or one another’s throats (depending on context).

“After all, as they say, ‘what is good for the goose is good for the gander’ ’’. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

“Knowing what to wear and how to compliment (complement) it goes a long way….”

Vanguard COMMENT and VIEWPOINT of May 6 sent out the following errors: “The state, therefore, does not deserve the treatment being currently meted to it”. Classical expression: being meted out to it.

“Chief of Naval Staff advocates for increased productivity via industrialization” When used as a verb, ‘advocate’ does not admit ‘for’. Let us avoid verbiage in headline casting: Naval Chief advocates increased productivity.

“For the university to recommend that students should pay for the damages while they have….” A common mistake: except in legalese, ‘damage’ cannot be pluralized.

“…rather than investigating and finding out who were involved and check against future re-occurrence: Beyond recurrence, can an event yet to take place happen in the past?

“…the university is pointing its accusing fingers in the direction of the lecturers.” True idiom: point a/the finger. No inclusion of ‘accusing’ or inflection of ‘finger’.

“It is our belief that we members of the alumni association of our alma Mata (Alma Mater) have unique roles to play in the restoration of sanity on our university campus.” It is…restoration of sanity to (not on) our campus.

“Isn’t it funny that it is the beak with which a bird builds it’s (sic) nest that it uses to scatter it.” Possessive: its

“…the OAU summiteers concentrated almost exclusive (sic) on the political independence and liberation of countries in (on) the continent.”

Vanguard of May 4 contained two putrid lines: “Monday’s action, which started at dawn, was as a result of the breakdown of series of negotiations…” An agendum: a series of negotiations.

“According to investigations, the deceased was said to be resting alone in his room at about 9.p.m….” Every reporter should be decisive based on timing which description to use: either at or about 9 p.m. The two cannot co-function.

“According to the source, the institution has a very high percentage of failure in the last academic year.” Reported speech: the institution had (not has).

“… that the authorities of the institution was (were) still waiting the result of the police analysis of the bomb”.

“…in the next three years, its per capital income would have …” This way: per capita income.

THE GUARDIAN On Sunday of May 2 circulated dozens of blunders: “Then it was catalogue of misses for the Super Eagles.” In the spirit of qualification: a catalogue of misses.

“The home of the chairman… was vandalized and most of his properties littered outside.” No chaos: most of his property.

Related Articles