Expression by Ebere Wabara
DAILY INDEPENDENT Views Page and other components of the April 4 edition offered readers copious solecisms: “Our home grown (home-grown) terrorists are hitting very hard at us….”
“…when in the past we assisted in restoring peace in (to) neighbouring countries torn apart by internal strife.”
“Paradoxically, the call for amnesty for Boko Haram is coming on the heel (heels) of the upsurge in its nefarious activities.”
Next is Vanguard of April 4: “…the ex-president alerted the nation on (to) the dangers of an army of….”
“…while others have drift (drifted) into all manner of….”
“…the harsh effects of unemployment failed woefully (abysmally) and was thrown out by the lawmakers….”
Lastly from Vanguard: “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” All the sides: Forewarned is forearmed. There is no need for ‘to be…is to be’!
The Back Page of BUSINESSDAY circulated some infelicities before the weekend: “But fresh evidence emerged yesterday that it was the dramatic (sic) personae (dramatis persona) himself….”
“How should corporate managers react in (to) turbulent economic times, when the burden of crisis (crises) appears too heavy to bear?”
“How many persons would they need to deploy to (in) each university for the proposed period of two weeks….”
“There is corruption in the award of contracts, especially by the universities governing councils.” Education as I see it: universities’ governing councils
Wrong: I cannot remember
Right: I do not remember or I cannot recall/recollect
Please note that while ‘obituary announcement’ is wrong, ‘obituary notice’ or just ‘obituary’ is acceptable. (Thanks to Kenneth Ugbechie, the publisher of Nigerian Economist, for this contribution)
Another word that suffers abuse is ‘arguably’! Once more, Longman to the rescue: ‘arguably’ (adverb—sentence adverb) used when giving your opinion to say that there are good reasons why something might be true. Example: The Nation is arguably the best newspaper in Nigeria. Now, how do you explain this kind of cloudy thinking: ‘Lionel Messi is arguably the best footballer in the world?’ Obviously, the writer does not know the meaning of ‘arguably’ because Messi is incontrovertibly the best footballer in the world today closely followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, who, by the way, made me to fall in love with Manchester United before his record-breaking movement to Real Madrid.
“As at press time, there has not been any frenzy of activities at INEC headquarters.” Matters arising: yank away ‘has’ for ‘had’.
“The NUJ press centre in Benin City is just a stone throw from her home.” Pedantic view: a stone’s throw.
“Relatively new on the Nigerian scene, the company has joined the bandwagon….” My diary: climb or jump on/aboard (not join the bandwagon).
“Today, however, that social buffer hardly exists any more, as a number of the offsprings are themselves either unemployed or financially prostrate.” Travails of language: ’offspring’ is non-count.
“…the brouhaha of Jonathan’s political future vis-à-vis 2027 has elevated what was once considered a past time of clowns and scoundrels to a new pedestal.” No dilemma: pastime.
My own misapprehension last week: “It has to be one of this: last/this/next Thursday.” How did this slip by: ‘this’ instead of ‘these’? I tender my unreserved apologies—excuse the cliché!
“…they will not dare do that if he becomes a civilian head of state, under a party platform.” Succession rules: on (not under) a platform.
“Recently (a coma) some traditional rulers from the Igbo speaking (a hyphen) areas of the East have (sic) pledged their support for Tinubu….” No further comment.
“Cultism in schools are growing in leaps and bounds.” Error of attraction: Cultism in schools is….
“If so, why is it rather difficult for many people especially those outside the corridor of power…?” Grammatical landscape: corridors of power.
“In order words, if Goodluck Jonathan were to run….” In other words, there is consensus on ‘order’ and ‘other.’
“And if from this cacophonies….” Indeed, a cacophony from This Life….
“…Nigeria emerged a nation with a defective system of government fashioned out from series of compromises by our political leaders.” Our right foot forward: a series of compromises.
“There is now a manifest agenda in totally negating the idea of a truely federal territory.” Spell-check: truly.
“Such dislocation may even be dictated (detected) early enough but no one wants to stand out from the crowd.”
“Thus, the issue of maintaining peace in crisis-ridden parts of the world have for decades become an important aspect of our foreign policy.” Error of attraction: the issue…has (not have).
“The feeling is that many don’t want to be seen to take a position which would be interpreted as confrontational and as such they have resulted (resorted) to lobbying prominent figures outside government to….”
“The actual name of the person expected to chairman (chair/preside over) this occasion is….”
Wrong: atimes; right: at times (two words)
“Those who have the power to release the suspect but are passing the bulk (buck) to the courts should be informed that it is against the national interest to refuse to release….”
“The former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, explained that it was not the first time that banks would be liquidated and that the history of bank failure in the country dated (dates) back to 1958 or 1959.” Note: dates back to or dates back from is a stock expression.
“In reaction to the leaflets being circulated, the Kano State Commissioner of Police…made a radio and television broadcast telling the people to ignore the leaflets which he described as the handiwork of mischieve (mischief) makers.” Special note: make-believe (not make-belief).
“When the storm rages, men can do nothing about the storm, but when the storm has seized (ceased), its destruction can be redressed.”
Theoretical linguists, curriculum experts and “educationalists” (educationists or educators), working together or separately, have been busy putting forward suggestions for language education reform. Note especially: “educationalist”, like “unwieldy” or “invitee” or “indisciplined”, is not in any respected dictionary. These comic words were invented by Nigerians.
“Armed robbers again jolted the commercial city of Lagos last week Friday (last Friday/Last Friday week or on Friday, last week).”
“Students write exams half naked (half-dressed/half clothed/half covered or half clad, or naked/bare to the waist).”
“I stood up, took another coin out of my pocket and put it near my half–empty (half–full) beer glass.” Special note: in editorial English, we say or write: half clothed/half covered/half-dressed/half clad (‘clad’ is obsolete as a participle) naked or bare to the waist or clothed from the waist down or naked/bare, or fully dressed: half-full (not half-empty); semi-literate/half or sub-literate/half lettered (not semi illiterate); half sighted (not half blind); half alive (not half dead); employment problem or unemployment (not unemployment problem).
