Senator Hope Uzodimma Goofs
DAILY SUN of July 10 welcomes us today with the first salvo from the full-page advertorial by Senator Hope Uzodimma: “Your esteemed presences (presence) made a world of difference at the wedding.”
“An attempt to list or acknowledge all of you who graced this memorable wedding ceremony (sic) with your warm presence (which one is cold presence, please?) on (in) this publication will be an uphill task because….”
Finally from the senator: “All others who grazed (what?) this occasion are no less appreciated.”
Wrong: well deserved honour; right: well-deserved honour
“The former governor said urgent steps are (were) needed to save the country from….”
“Singapore jails senior civil servants over (for) corruption”
“ANA postponements (sic) (postpones) July reading”
“Peugeot plans to inject $7.26b on (into) research, development”
“South African Airways celebrates 80 years (years’ or 80th year) anniversary”
“LASU Management re-opens (reopens) the university” (Half-page advertisement)
“You lived well and you have gone to (preferably for) a well deserved (welldeserved) rest. Rest in perfect peace.” (Full-page obituary) Except for graveyard peace, ‘peace’ is an absolute and does not need inflection, intensification or adumbra- tion. So, rest in peace (R.I.P—not R.I.P.P)!
Finally from the Back Page of THE GUARDIAN under review: “One has witnessed at different occasions dissenting opinions of doctors as regards prescriptions for patient’s (a patient’s) ailment.” The Guardian youth speak: on different occasions.
Next is DAILY TRUST of July 11: “Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar spoke at his palace in Sokoto….” Does the Sultan of Sokoto have another palace elsewhere? Let us think as we report.
“Heritage Bank plans listing in (on) capital market”
“Pact with China conducive for peace, says Taiwan (Taiwan’s or Taiwanese) president”
“Otherwise, there is no point we engage in importing that much on yearly (a yearly) basis.”
“…he said though the institute has (had) developed 62 rice varieties for farmers, five most prominent varieties are (were) in circulation and are (were) doing very good (well).”
“NEMA, stakeholders meets over displaced persons” You can readily identify the boyish slip-up.
“With the LG polls now fixed for next week Tuesday….” Either next Tuesday or Tuesday, next week
Lastly from DAILY TRUST: “Replicate your performance to (in) your constituents (constituencies)”
“Security at airports: Police deploys (sic) sniffer dogs at (in) Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, 5 others” (AIT News)
From DAILY TRUST we move to THISDAY of July 12: “Absence of interpreter stalls trial of Portuguese woman charged for (with) drug trafficking”
“Thumb (Thumbs) up for Nigerian refs in Mali”
“Obasanjo : Amaechi’s k-leg (knocked leg) has been straightened”
The following five solecisms are from DAILY INDEPENDENT of July 12: “DHQ assures of continued offensive” Who did it assure?
“Battle for soul of Ecobank intensifies” So the battle intensifies itself?
“Harnessing potentials of local software industry in Nigeria” ‘Potential’ is uncountable, but we have ‘potentialities’,
“Tackling voters apathy in Nigeria” This way: voter apathy
SATURDAY INDEPENDENT of July 8 disseminated all manner of school-boy mistakes right from the front page: “Fear has grip (gripped) notable politicians in Ebonyi State following findings by….” Most of the ensuing blunders were caused by sheer carelessness and loose thinking as the computer system has an in-built mechanism that detects most of the spelling errors contained herein.
“The discovery was made when the DSS arrested some kidnappers in the state alleged to be the brain (brains) behind high profile (high-profile) kidnapping in the state.”
“The SSS in the state said on Friday that it has (had) arrested….”
“…motorists were made to watch a bizzare (bizarre) spectacle, (needless comma) as four policemen beat a man gave (who gave) his name as…to a state of stupour (stupor).”
“The policemen, who drove to the scene in a patrol van with registration number