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You are welcome to this edition: “We recall that last year, the CJN…made case (a case) for financial independence for the judiciary.”
From NATIONAL NEWS of June 24 come the next four headline infractions—all on the same page: “Flooding: Vacate your premises, Lagos tells residents of flood prone (flood-prone) areas”
“Pensions protests sponsored—Govt” (Source: as above). Either pension (adjectival) protests or simply pensioners’ protests sponsored
“Pharmacists decry incessant attack (attacks) on members”
“Pro-Edda faults statement urging Onyeike apologised (apologize) to govt over (for) criticism”
“Ridding the almajiri of his beggar’s bowl” A rewrite: Ridding the almajiri—collective—of their beggars’ bowls
“But the Daily Mail said the Premier League club are (was) willing to wait until….”
“NAF kills scores, destroys bandits (bandits’) camps in Katsina”
Wrong: riot act; right: the riot act
“Congratulations to a quitessential (quintessential) pan-Africanist”
“The challenges currently trailing the provision of meters….” ‘Currently’ is otiose here!
“This is however in sharp contrast with (to) repeated claims by the President (president) of the Senate (senate)….”
“On behalf of myself and my family, I happily congratulate ….” A rewrite: My family and I congratulate…. There can be no sadness (“happily”) in congratulatory matters!
“…till we reach to (sic) the long awaited promise land in Jesus (Jesus’) everlasting name….” Get it right: long-awaited Promised Land
“…to enable you execute the job entrusted on (with) you….”
Let us welcome Africa Independent Television to this column. “The British monarch has condoled Nigerians on the…as part of activities marking her….” (AIT News, June 10) The aristocrat condoled with (take note) us. My own condolences to all the bereaved in that avoidable disaster….
“The seven bank chief executives currently being investigated by the EFCC for their alleged racketeering roles in the current pension fund scam have been placed under security watch to forestall them escaping outside the country” (DAILY TRUST, April 6) A rewrite to save time and space: The seven bank chief executives being investigated by the EFCC for their alleged racketeering roles in the current pension fund scam have been placed under security watch to forestall their escape from the country. The copious blunders in the extract remind me of inflectional Middle English!
“Assailant, vigilante member die in gun duel” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, April 6) Get it right: vigilance member. Alternatively: Assailant, vigilante die in gun duel.
“INEC official arrested over ‘missing’ ballot papers in Akwa Ibom” (THE NATION, April 5) Truth in defence of freedom: ‘arrest’ takes ‘for’—not ‘over’!
“Woman arrested with AK-47, 148 live ammunitions” (THISDAY, March 31) The last word in the extract is uncountable. The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period is gone!
“This will remove the possibility of passing the bulk (buck)” (THE PUNCH, March 30) No pedestrian English.
“The organized private sector took the bull by the horn recently….” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, April 6) For a better society: take the bull by the horns.
“Britain handed over the reigns of power to the politicians.” (THE GUARDIAN, April 6) Modern English: reins of government.
“One even wonders why government did not adopt that method from the onset (outset).” (Vanguard, April 6)
“This is true given the restricted and guarded comments from those who have been priviledged to view the clips.” (Leadership, April 6) Spellings count: privileged.
“Government needs to put (get) its acts together and prosecute the kidnappers.” (Vanguard, April 6) My own comment: get its act (not acts) together.
“Vigilante group accused of murder“(DAILY TRUST, April 3) Get it right: vigilance group.
“Apart from all these, the debt recovery (a hyphen confirms class) level of the banks have not been any issue of interest to NDIC.” (THISDAY, April 2). Question CBN has to answer, debt recovery has (not have).
“It is believed in some quarters that the Nigerian Police has….” (THE NATION, April 6) Get it right: the Nigerian Police have.
The next five blunders are from Daily Trust of April 5: “And the leaders, being new on the saddle of political leadership (another comma) were.…” The challenge of good grammar: in the saddle.
“Efforts by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his group to remove Akintola from office was (were) fiercely resisted.” Why the discord?
“As a new democracy, there was (were) bound to be problems.”
“In the course of the crisis, Awo and some of his lieutenants were arrested and charged for (with)….”
“Have the previous exercises impacted meaningfully on the lives (life) of the average Nigerian?” (National News, April 6)
“This could not have been possible if they had been outrightly liquidated.”
‘Outrightly’ is a Nigerian creation! The right word ‘outright’ functions as an adverb and an adjective. Therefore, it does not require any inflexion. In other words: This could not have been possible if they had been liquidated outright. Even at that, ‘liquidation’ does not need any qualification because of its causative finality. So, if they had been liquidated.
‘Reopening’ abhors hyphenation. It is not automatic that any word with a prefix must go with a hyphen, except where there is a vowel replication. For instance: re-entry, but readmit, readjust, etcetera.
Imagine the classical excellence a hyphen between ‘industry’ and ‘enhancing’ would have conferred on the headline.
“I said these are (were) beggars and I told my wife I better (I had better) get money ready for them.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, April 6)
“…the grassroots population of our people will remain the lifewire of the UBE scheme.” (Nigerian Tribune, April 6) Adult literacy: livewire.
“The remains of the Ovie, sources in the town revealed, was (were) later tied….”
“And just last Friday, it was reported that the police has (had) arrested the APC governorship candidate….” (THE GUARDIAN, April 6)
“The meetings were about some developments alright….” (THE PUNCH, April 6) ‘Alright’ (non-standard) is unacceptable for ‘all right’ in formal settings.
“My suggestion, therefore, is that our National Assembly members should tow (toe) the line of reason.” (THE PUNCH, April 6)
