FROM the front page of the Voice of The Nation of October 20, 2015, comes this embarrassing and childish error: “Radio Biafra director arraigned in court” Yank off the last two words!
“It has come to the notice of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that certain unscrupulous individuals have been sending unsolicited mails and text messages to unsuspecting bank customers, alerting them about (to) deactivation or suspension of their bank accounts….”
(Full-page advertorial by the CBN, signed by Ibrahim Mu’azu, Director, Corporate Communications, DAILY SUN, November 2)“It has come to the notice of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that certain unscrupulous individuals have been sending unsolicited mails and text messages to unsuspecting bank customers, alerting them about (to) deactivation or suspension of their bank accounts….”
“Lagos police transfer: Residents commend IGP, want same (the same) exercise for Aba”
“NASU gives marching order (orders) to debtor state govts”
Next is THISDAY of November 7, which led inside pages in commiting infractions: “No large (long) convoys, retinue of aides, Buhari advises ministers-designate”
“Four drown as flood hit (hits) Calabar-Itu highway”
“There have been casualities (casualties).”
“EFCC have (has) declared this ex-pension boss wanted for stealing N2 billion.”
“The league in America like everybody know (knows) is not….”
“Obiano cries out over erosion ravaged (erosion-ravaged) federal roads in Anambra”
“Port-Harcourt (Port Harcourt) refinery shuts (shut) down” The refinery did not shut itself down—it was shut down!
“Lamenting the fuel scarcity, Kachikwu said the NNPC is (was) speeding up the payment of the subsidy claims….”
“Residents raise alarm (the alarm) on (over) security threat” “Five PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Abia State said at the weekend they have (had) uncovered plots by some persons….” Reported speech is always in the past tense.
“Three Egypt (Egyptian) soldiers die in Gaza tunnel collapse” (THE NATION ON SUNDAY Headline, October 19)
THE NATION ON SUNDAY of October 12 mistrusted one of its advertorials: “…under (on) the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
VANGUARD of October 7 circulated seven blunders: “Atiku commissions (inaugurates) Ekiti’s 300-bed hospital, asks voters to shun PDP in 2015”
“Lawyers, judges pay last respect (respects) to late Justice….” Yank off ‘late’ for obvious reasons
“FG to fast track (fast-track) oil communities’ development”
“…the economic potentials (potential or potentialities) of the abundant natural resources”
“Why Toyota dominates Nigeria (Nigerian) roads”
“Police shifts ban on use of motorcycles” A rewrite: Police extend ban on motorbike usage”
“NNPC raises alarm (the alarm) over fake letter of authorisation”
“Amosun’s wife flags (kicks) off Ogun community health scheme”
THE NATION ON SUNDAY of October 5 comes next: “…takes a look at the fortunes of the emerging business conglomerate vis-à-vis its strengths, potentials and weakness.” Again, ‘potential’ is uncountable, but ‘potentialities’ (THE GUARDIAN INTERVIEW Page of October 2 contained this same blunder).
“Four drown as flood hit (hits) Calabar-Itu highway”
“There have been casualities (casualties).”
“EFCC have (has) declared this ex-pension boss wanted for stealing N2 billion.”
“The league in America like everybody know (knows) is not….”
“Obiano cries out over erosion ravaged (erosion-ravaged) federal roads in Anambra”
“Port-Harcourt (Port Harcourt) refinery shuts (shut) down” The refinery did not shut itself down—it was shut down!
“Lamenting the fuel scarcity, Kachikwu said the NNPC is (was) speeding up the payment of the subsidy claims….”
“Residents raise alarm (the alarm) on (over) security threat” “Five PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Abia State said at the weekend they have (had) uncovered plots by some persons….” Reported speech is always in the past tense.
“Three Egypt (Egyptian) soldiers die in Gaza tunnel collapse” (THE NATION ON SUNDAY Headline, October 19)
THE NATION ON SUNDAY of October 12 mistrusted one of its advertorials: “…under (on) the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
VANGUARD of October 7 circulated seven blunders: “Atiku commissions (inaugurates) Ekiti’s 300-bed hospital, asks voters to shun PDP in 2015”
“Lawyers, judges pay last respect (respects) to late Justice….” Yank off ‘late’ for obvious reasons
“FG to fast track (fast-track) oil communities’ development”
“…the economic potentials (potential or potentialities) of the abundant natural resources”
“Why Toyota dominates Nigeria (Nigerian) roads”
“Police shifts ban on use of motorcycles” A rewrite: Police extend ban on motorbike usage”
“NNPC raises alarm (the alarm) over fake letter of authorisation”
“Amosun’s wife flags (kicks) off Ogun community health scheme”
THE NATION ON SUNDAY of October 5 comes next: “…takes a look at the fortunes of the emerging business conglomerate vis-à-vis its strengths, potentials and weakness.” Again, ‘potential’ is uncountable, but ‘potentialities’ (THE GUARDIAN INTERVIEW Page of October 2 contained this same blunder).
“There were no furnitures and the entire premises were in a derelict state.” Politics: it is unfortunate that an Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice from the South East does not know that ‘furniture’ cannot be inflected!
“Few (‘A few’ because of context) days ago….”
“…all stakeholders in an all night (all-night) meeting at the Hilton, Abuja.”
“…the decision to tow (toe) a different political part from his.”
Lastly from THE NATION under review: “Japan to invest N2.8b on (in) health, education”
THE GUARDIAN Editorial Page of October 2 takes over from THE NATION ON SUNDAY: “The losers in these (this) façade are the….”
“Firm launches campaign to sensitise public on (to)) chemicals”
“IPI condoled his family….” The institute condoled with his family or consoled his family
“The capacity of women to raise funds for recognition have been further….” The capacity…has’.
“The human greed has now reached its highest peak.” This amounts to tormenting functional items. ‘Peak’ abhors any intensification.
“The Senegal summit was an important landmark enroute (sic) the fourth world women conference in Beijing, China.” Two things are wrong in the preceding sentence: do we have an ‘unimportant’ landmark? And ‘enroute the…’ Standard register: ‘en route to or for…’ And ‘en route from.….’ ‘En route’ is a French phrase which means ‘on the way’.
“Picturesque Tinubu Square, the business hub of the city will be revived back to its glory.” Why do we like being severe on words? ‘Revive’ can’t accommodate ‘back’ (or ‘front’) glorification.
“The perspective is neither alarmist or fantastic.” It seems some writers don’t give a damn about grammatical inappropriateness. If they do, they won’t scribble ‘neither… or’ in place of ‘neither….nor’ (either…or).
“The individual common man has little access to the press, so the injustices the common man suffers atimes do not merit media attention.” (SUNDAY VANGUARD, October 5) ‘Atimes’ is Nigerian English. Standard expression: ‘at times’.
“He had defiled (defied) all odds at the end of the Nigerian Civil War….”
“These kind of write-ups drive journalism into irrelevance.” Correct form: This kind of or these kinds of.… “Since such may not come into reality.” Right expression: “Since such may not come to reality.”
“The budget planned originally to be a surplus usually result into a huge deficit.” Approved form: result in.
“Definitely, the wounds which the recent political crisis have distributed across the nation… “ It is not ‘the wounds’ that should determine the verb to be used here, but ‘crisis’ (singular) or ‘crises’ (plural).
“Formulation of past budgets have more often been hailed but their implementation….” Concord problem in an editorial: ‘Formulation…have….’? Gentlemen, I am blushed.
“The top flight accountant assured that if the government can provide the pensioners with good things (comma, please) there will be minimal of embezzlement and its….” (NIGERIAN TIDE, October 10) ‘Minimal embezzlement’, please.
“…with a view to meeting (sic) out appropriate sanctions on all those found to have been involved in any way.” The (formal) phrasal verb is ‘meting out to’ (not ‘on’).
“Israel moves to diffuse tension with Egypt” Who is the sub-editor diffusing illiteracy? Let us always distinguish between ‘diffuse’ and ‘defuse’.
“At a stage, the total of 23 presidential aspirants that sought for power under the platform of all the parties....” I seek grammatical power on the platform….
“All through our long years under colonialism, the cost of books and other materials were never beyond the reach…” ‘Cost’ is what should inform the verb used here; not ‘books and other materials’.
“Among items destroyed were textile materials, jewelleries, television and radio sets….” ‘Jewellery’: plural unchanged.
“Nigerians pay last respect to Dimgba Igwe” ‘Last respects’, please.
“Few (‘A few’ because of context) days ago….”
“…all stakeholders in an all night (all-night) meeting at the Hilton, Abuja.”
“…the decision to tow (toe) a different political part from his.”
Lastly from THE NATION under review: “Japan to invest N2.8b on (in) health, education”
THE GUARDIAN Editorial Page of October 2 takes over from THE NATION ON SUNDAY: “The losers in these (this) façade are the….”
“Firm launches campaign to sensitise public on (to)) chemicals”
“IPI condoled his family….” The institute condoled with his family or consoled his family
“The capacity of women to raise funds for recognition have been further….” The capacity…has’.
“The human greed has now reached its highest peak.” This amounts to tormenting functional items. ‘Peak’ abhors any intensification.
“The Senegal summit was an important landmark enroute (sic) the fourth world women conference in Beijing, China.” Two things are wrong in the preceding sentence: do we have an ‘unimportant’ landmark? And ‘enroute the…’ Standard register: ‘en route to or for…’ And ‘en route from.….’ ‘En route’ is a French phrase which means ‘on the way’.
“Picturesque Tinubu Square, the business hub of the city will be revived back to its glory.” Why do we like being severe on words? ‘Revive’ can’t accommodate ‘back’ (or ‘front’) glorification.
“The perspective is neither alarmist or fantastic.” It seems some writers don’t give a damn about grammatical inappropriateness. If they do, they won’t scribble ‘neither… or’ in place of ‘neither….nor’ (either…or).
“The individual common man has little access to the press, so the injustices the common man suffers atimes do not merit media attention.” (SUNDAY VANGUARD, October 5) ‘Atimes’ is Nigerian English. Standard expression: ‘at times’.
“He had defiled (defied) all odds at the end of the Nigerian Civil War….”
“These kind of write-ups drive journalism into irrelevance.” Correct form: This kind of or these kinds of.… “Since such may not come into reality.” Right expression: “Since such may not come to reality.”
“The budget planned originally to be a surplus usually result into a huge deficit.” Approved form: result in.
“Definitely, the wounds which the recent political crisis have distributed across the nation… “ It is not ‘the wounds’ that should determine the verb to be used here, but ‘crisis’ (singular) or ‘crises’ (plural).
“Formulation of past budgets have more often been hailed but their implementation….” Concord problem in an editorial: ‘Formulation…have….’? Gentlemen, I am blushed.
“The top flight accountant assured that if the government can provide the pensioners with good things (comma, please) there will be minimal of embezzlement and its….” (NIGERIAN TIDE, October 10) ‘Minimal embezzlement’, please.
“…with a view to meeting (sic) out appropriate sanctions on all those found to have been involved in any way.” The (formal) phrasal verb is ‘meting out to’ (not ‘on’).
“Israel moves to diffuse tension with Egypt” Who is the sub-editor diffusing illiteracy? Let us always distinguish between ‘diffuse’ and ‘defuse’.
“At a stage, the total of 23 presidential aspirants that sought for power under the platform of all the parties....” I seek grammatical power on the platform….
“All through our long years under colonialism, the cost of books and other materials were never beyond the reach…” ‘Cost’ is what should inform the verb used here; not ‘books and other materials’.
“Among items destroyed were textile materials, jewelleries, television and radio sets….” ‘Jewellery’: plural unchanged.
“Nigerians pay last respect to Dimgba Igwe” ‘Last respects’, please.
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