Walks, not Works, of Life
“THE enthusiastic participation by all Nigerians from all works (walks) of life….” “…an indelible statement that inspite (in spite) of the challenges that currently exist….” (‘Currently’ is otiose here) “…and All the Governors (needless capitalization) who attended the epoch making (epoch-making) event.” Except if ‘epoch’ is the event maker!
“We are proud of the President’s Pan Nigerian (sic) outlook….” This way: the President’s pan-Nigeria outlook
“Sisters arrested over (for) attempt to smuggle marijuana to brother”
“Group condemns INEC (INEC’s) handling of PVC in Lagos”
“We are eternally appreciative to (sic) be part of the ongoing Transformation agenda which has recorded irreversible growth for the Oil and Gas Industry.” (Full-page advertorial by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and signed by its Management) A rewrite: We are eternally appreciative of being part of the ongoing….
“I…of the Niger Delta Development Commission on behalf of the management and staff of the Commission felicitates (felicitate) with….”
“…especially in this (these) turbulent times in our journey to great nationhood.” (Source: as above)
“Mgbidi Boys (Boys’) Secondary School (1982 Set) and Classmates of Senator Hope Uzodinma”
THE NATION ON SUNDAY POLITICS of May 7 contributed the next two wrongs: “Another party source said the elders are (were) considering the consensus option.”
“…used the authority of the party’s extraordinary convention held in Abuja a forth-night (sic) ago….” Spell-check: fortnight
“Ilorin residents groan as pure water scarcity worsens” Middle Belt Today: sachet water
“Unity Bank releases names of debtors” Why not debtors’ names, especially for headline purposes?
“Ajimobi will break second term (secondterm) jinx”
“Intelligent EMUI 3.0 with gravity sensing (gravity-sensing) technology”
“LG boss assures on democracy dividend” Who did the chairman assure?
“At both the Enugu and Nsukka campuses of the university.…” (THISDAY, May 4) On (not at) both the campuses…
“The commission did analysed the memorable…” I don’t need to analyze the tense problem in the extract.
“It is simplistic to think that every decisions will be accepted by everybody.” Every decision or all decisions
“It’s constitution is over 200 years old and was drafted by just 55 men.” The possessive form of ‘its’ does not require an apostrophe.
“Robbery tribunal sworn-in” ‘Sworn in’, a phrasal verb, cannot function as a compound word.
“The veil of enemity between.…” Get it right: enmity.
“…the arrogance of certain persons connected directly or indirectly make me nervous….” The arrogance…makes me nervous.
“He had reflected back to (reflected on) this time two years ago.…” Yank off ‘back’ which smacks of crass illiteracy.
“However, with series of painstaking explanations.…” A series of…
“On my way to work, last week Wednesday….” Simply last Wednesday or Wednesday, last week: the excerpt is odd.
“And that is, the Nigerian police has not failed.” The Nigerian police have
“…the nation’s enormous human and material resources would blossom resulting eventually into (sic) economic buoyancy.” Resulting in economic buoyancy
“The campaign abroad is that Nigeria is on the verge of a huge conflagration.” (THISDAY, The Sunday Edition, May 7) ‘Conflagration’ does not need any amplification (huge).
“It is true that majority of us do not want to see Nigeria break.” A/the majority of us.…
“They were thought (what!) how to use cutleries as Frenchmen.” I was taught by my current dictionaries that ‘cutlery’ is noncount. And ‘thought’ for ‘taught’? Could it be ignorance or carelessness?
VANDALIZATION (also vandalism) is a variant of vandalism that is not so popular in terms of usage because it is often used in Law in a specialized manner.
A more perfect or perfect union? I convened a national conference where recommendations and resolutions were reached