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You are welcome to the first edition this month: “First Bank felicitates with Junior Achievement Nigeria on Nobel Peace Prize nomination” Delete ‘with’ from the extract.
“Abductors of IPMAN top member in Edo demand N80m for his release” (THISDAY, February 12) What would the ransom have been for? Please do not underestimate readers’ intellect. So, yank away ‘for his release’!
“Police proposes (propose) legislation to compel installation of CCTVs in govt (govt.) agencies, corporate bodies” ‘Police’ without command or station: always plural verb.
“We celebrate a quintessential gentleman, an achiever per (par) excellence….”
“Riding on the shoulder (shoulders) of the above provision of the law….” (POLITY, February 12)
“FG appoints VCs, other officers (officials) for 4 new varsities”
“He’s not even sneezing and they are catching the cold (catching cold)!”
“We (Nigerians) do not trust each other (trust one another)….” (Politics & Power, February 16)
“On behalf of my family, the Government (sic) and good people of Rivers State, I felicitate with you….” Happy birthday: His Excellency felicitates you!
“Edo communities lament herdsmen (herdsmen’s) invasion” (NATIONAL NEWS, February 16)
“Drug scandal: Court okays 2 weeks (weeks’) detention of Abba Kyari, 6 others”
Cross-section (A cross-section) of guests at the event”
“…sensitises (sensitizes preferably) customers in (to) emerging opportunities in non-oil export” (BUSINESS, February 23)
Wrong: Tales of woe
Right: Tale of woe
THE GUARDIAN of February 21 toed embarrassing lines trebly: “Towing (Toeing) the path of research for national development”
“Govt (Govt.) approves NIMASA’s representation at oil platforms” This way: representation on oil platforms.
“His passion to see a just and egalitarian society is unparallel (unparalleled).”
“Eagles begin acclimatization…train under (in) the sun” This is quite different from an expression like ‘there is nothing new under the sun’, which is correct. Similarly, we play football in—not under—the rain.
THISDAY of February 21 raised a poser: “It is believed that close to one thousand of such prisoners are currently languishing in the various Nigerian congested prisons.” What is the function of ‘currently’ here?
“Environmental health, panacea to reducing Lassa fever” My panacea for (not to) good English….
“SME’s owners converges at VConnect Business Forum on Digital Marketing” (BUSINESSDAY, February 21) Get it right: SME owners converge on….
As my kindergarten daughter, Chiamaka, would say, ‘again and again’: “Five suspects arrested over (for) Suleja bombing” (The PUNCH, February 21) We cannot be tired of correcting this stupid and careless mistake that keeps recurring!
DAILY INDEPENDENT of February 20 circulated three infractions: “Fix bad roads before wet season, LASG urged” Property & Environment: either dry or rainy season
“This deficit (a comma) Buhari said (another comma) will (would) be financed through the traditional sources such as….”
“His media allies have been parroting the same lies, hoping that by piping Sylva’s dictated (called) tune….” (Dr. Reuben Abati’s ‘Much Ado about Stones’—also published in other newspapers).
“Nor does that statement translate into an admission of involvement in the stoning of ex-Governor Timipre Sylva at (on) a previous occasion….” (Source: as above)
“Police beef-up (beef up) security in Abuja” (Vanguard, February 20)
“The use of multimedia devices have (has) brought about improved service delivery in many companies.” (THE NATION, February 20)
Charity, they say, begins at home: “That was a hard pill to swallow.”
“For sometime now….” Nigeria’s leading weekly newsmagazine: some time (two words in this context).
“Sanusi and the politics of generousity” Spell-check: generosity
“As the contending political parties conclude arrangements for next (this) Saturday’s governorship elections (sic) in Cross River State….reports on the last minutes’ alignments….” Politics: last-minute alignments….
“The Ministry said it has (had) now taken over the regulation of the location….”
DAILY INDEPENDENT of February 17 defeated its own voice on three occasions: “With the opposition…as usual working at cross-purpose (sic)….” My own voice: cross purposes
“Added together is the combined anti-PDP vote….” Rudimentary knowledge shows that ‘add’ and ‘together’ cannot co-function as the former encompasses the latter.
“With troops being deployed on (in) the streets at the drop of a hat….”
From the belly of the newspaper we move to two headline blunders in the same edition: “Karu market to take-off soon” Once more, phrasal verbs abhor hyphenation.
“PGAN electioneering activities gathers momentum” Drop ‘activities’ and behold a classical headline.
Vanguard of February 17 showed its weakness on a tripod: “Edo caucus group woos support for PDP aspirant” You canvass support, but woo people.
“Is the break up of this country inevitable?” Why is it that sub-editors (and some writers!) omit hyphens when they are necessary and add them when not needed? Noun: breakup/break-up (which applies here) and break up (phrasal verb).
“The association is determined to restore public confidence in (to) the public.” (THE NATION, February 17)
“Chisora happy to go into lion’s den” (THE GUARDIAN, February 16) Conscience, Nurtured by Truth: the lion’s den
National News Editorial of February 16 misinformed its readers in three ways: “…who arrested four senior editors and other employees of the newspaper over (for) reports that offended the government in the….”
“Besides, while the Jos crisis lasted, soldiers deployed to (in) the Plateau State capital….”
“…a batch of plain-cloth (plain-clothes) security personnel”
Next on the line-up is DAILY INDEPENDENT of February 16: “…although the economic problems persisted but the downturn have (has) ceased.”
“The reoccurring (recurring) menaces of the NURTW members has (have)….”
“Stakeholders react on (to) ASUU strike as varsities re-open (reopen)” (Vanguard Learning Headline, February 16)
“…tertiary healthcare providers and HMOs to run the scheme under (on) an information technology platform….” (THE GUARDIAN, February 16)
From National News of February 16 come the next three blunders: “Police commend Akwa Ibom youth over (for) role in crime control.”
“The lock out of aviation correspondents” (Editorial Headline) Get it right: lockout.
“…the suggestion Nigeria took without query which resulted into (in) cuts in university funding in the 80s.”
“The PDP insisted yesterday that Buhari must resign his position on moral ground (grounds) because of increasing insecurity and Boko Haram idiocy in the country.” Nobody resigns from his job/position in Nigeria!
“This is neither the time or (nor) the place to discuss about the fractured lives of the….” In the interest of lexical sanity: take out ‘about’ because it is otiose.
“The President has a (an) onerous responsibility not to give in to the expensive desires of his ministers….”
