Summons, Not ‘Summon’

EXPRESSION BY Ebere Wabara

“SCENE of yesterday’s gas explosion on (in) Ojekunle Street, Ladipo, Mushin, Lagos”

Wrong: rejonder; right: rejoinder

“…arguing that the latter is not in consonant (consonance) with the tenets of democracy” (DAILY Sun Editorial, November 17)

“Amidst (Amid) youth restiveness in Niger Delta….”

“NCC alerts public on (to) hacking group targeting telcos (sic), ISPs”

“…sensitize customers on (to) new technology solutions”

“A summon (summons) to rest” Get it right: summons (singular); summonses (plural). The verbal application is distinct, of course.

Still on hard facts: “That invasion on (of) Justice Odili’s house

THISDAY of November 13 takes over the baton today with two front-page misapprehensions: “Though, (otiose comma) President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to sign into law the….”

“…state governors across party lines are firming new plot (a new plot or new plots, depending on intended message) to scuttle the amendment.”

“Dogara declares country risks survival if people merely tolerate each other (one another)”

From the front page to inside pages: “There seems to be a general agreement (simply and intelligently ‘an agreement’) among professional and ordinary Nigerians (professionals and non-professionals—that you are not a ‘professional’ does not make you ‘ordinary’!) that the worrisome challenges in the country’s healthcare system have culminated into (in) an exodus of qualified doctors, nurses and the related healthcare practitioner (and related healthcare practitioners).”

Tribute: “…the mighty Iroko tree falls” Get it right: the Iroko tree is the mightiest tree in the forest. So, it does not require any embellishment! This way: the Iroko tree falls—without the morphological amplification, we know that a mighty man has kicked the bucket, as we used to informally say in our primary school days some decades ago!

“President Buhari and his love of (for) global stage” (THISDAY Back Page, November 13)

Now to sporting faux pas: “Super Eagles, Sharks in fight to finish (fight to the finish)”

“Plane with 500 pilgrims crash lands in Indonesia” Which is the verb here? This kind of lexical and structural nonchalance speaks volumes of the profile of any publication. Get it right: crash-lands. And its noun form: crash landing. That is language classicality for you!

“The problem occurs when any of these activities are (is) disturbed.” This kind of language weakness is known as error of proximity in linguistics.

“Are we loosing the battle against Boko Haram?” (BUSINESSDAY, November 15) I hope we are not losing the battle against verbal inaccuracies! If not, how do we rationalize this kind of lapse coming from the only surviving (daily) business medium in the country?

THE NATION ON SUNDAY of November 14 empowered four foibles not out of laziness or ignorance, but sheer carelessness: “Abubakar urged the beneficiaries to seize (take/use/employ, et al) the opportunity to beat the poverty lane….” Americanism accepts the faulty word as contextualized in the excerpt! See last week’s edition for elucidation.

“I am deliberately leaving out the out-rightly (sic) lewd comments on the Tribune article.” My own comment on the faux pas: outright lewd comments.

Lastly from my platform: “…from all nooks and corners (crannies) in Nigeria.”

Next on focus is DAILY TRUST of November 11 which offered two juvenile errors: “Road repairers arrested over (for) assault on NSCDC officer”

“Vigilante (Vigilance) group arrests suspected burglars at Dagiri” A vigilante is a member of a vigilance group.

From the November 11 edition of Blueprint comes the next set of goofs:”…to gird their loins and acquiesce to (in) in the devastating effects of the government’s planned removal of fuel subsidy come (in) 2022.”

“President Buhari, during his visit to Port Harcourt, observed different construction project (projects) going on in the state….”

“In this task, we are ready to gather all progressives willing to engage all shades of opinion….” POLITICS: shades of opinions (plural)

“But none has raised more eye-brows than the vulgar display of wealth at (on) the occasion organized by friends of….”

“NUPENG, NLC blame government over (for) lingering fuel subsidy crisis”

”…he could be misunderstood to mean that the Nigeria Police has (have) been busy condoning illegality for a long time now.” And this: an illegality (or illegalities, depending on context).

“The mob was apparently protesting the death of a youth, allegedly a victim of the town’s vigilante group.” New on the newsstands: vigilance group.

“NNPC’s position tallies with the OPEC view that any excess supply of oil to the international market would result into (in) a lowering of oil prices which would.…” Misuse of language, just like poverty, is very unpleasant.

“At the struggle for independence, the part played by the leaders of yesteryears set each apart to take over the reins of nation building.” Stock expression: yesteryear.

“Sex has become a past time, an avenue for recreation….” Get it right: pastime.

“Society has been so lenient with the male specie (species) that every woman.…”

“Recently, the police again raised its (their) periodic alarms over the apparent siege by armed bandits.” Do we have unarmed bandits?

“The laxity can extend to parking in (on) bank premises.”

“Are you not worried that things like this is happening knowing the volatile nature of Kaduna? This way: Are you not worried that things like these are…or a thing like this is….

“A case of throwing away the bad (the bath) water and the baby in it (sic).” Idiomatic correctness: throw the baby out with the bath water.

“Parents can pay more attention to their underaged (sic) children and wards and prevent them from getting behind wheels.” Celebration of health: underage children.

“No sooner had this happened than an argument ensured (ensued).”

“Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, is now a beehive of activities following the arrival….” Justice in service of community: a beehive of activity.

“The contestants beamed happily (or with cheers) at the fanfare accorded them on arrival.” They couldn’t have beamed sadly (or with sorrows)!

“In Bayelsa State, the campaign team of…has adopted a hit and run tactics” This way: a hit-and-run tactic or hit-and-run tactics.

“The failure of the Nigeria Police to play its (their) traditional role of maintaining peace and order in the country remains glaring.”

“It is not enough to point accusing fingers at one’s opponents.” This way: point the finger at one’s opponents.

“Politics should not be a do or die affair” Fixed form: a do-or-die affair (take note of the hyphenation).

“Eroding confidence on (in) accountancy worries don”

“As they say (a comma, please) whatever is good (sauce) for the goose is equally appropriate (sauce) for the gander.”

A poser: how can we eliminate recurring omissions, slip-ups and misunderstanding? Are they a function of oversight, wrong and wrong-doing? Do we need linguistic surgeons and professional fault-finders in media outfits for self-criticism?