Indelible common errors in English

WHY indelible? Because these errors will not go away! No amount of ‘Jik’— a bleaching detergent that removes stubborn stains, will get rid of these errors. You will find them recurring even after several emphatic attempts to expose them and explain in all the languages I speak well, including Ndau. The media is not spared.

How many times have you heard on radio stations-any radio station, ‘ discuss about’, comprising of, boasting of; with the print media even screaming on headlines in bold caption! There is a butcher next to bla bla bla… and when they buy grocery none of them are left grumbling. After going for their shopping, they board commuters back to their homes. All these are incorrect.

Discuss about; comprising of; the butcher was built in 2016; boasting of a bumper harvest; buy grocery and go home…; none of the boys are; going for shopping; yes, all wrong.

‘Discuss’ is never followed by ‘about’. Simple. Just stop that habit. We discuss common errors not about them. We discuss him, her, them, the issue, and the problem…zvega, not ‘about’.

Equally, ‘comprising’ is never followed by ‘of’, the same way ‘ boasting’ is never followed by ‘of’. The word that is similar in meaning to ‘comprising’ and is followed by ‘of’ is ‘consisting.’ Please, not the word ‘comprising’. Parliament comprises men and women (correct).Parliament consists of men and women (correct). Parliament comprises of women and men (incorrect). The farmers boast of a bumper harvest (incorrect). The farmers boast a bumper harvest (correct).

You cannot build a butcher. A butcher is a man or woman, a business person who is in the business of selling meat. So Mr Reporter, there cannot be a butcher next to that…whatever, in the township.

We don’t eat grocery. A grocery is a shop. What we buy and eat are groceries (the sugar, salt, rice, bread, eggs, cooking oil etc), not ‘grocery’.

We do not go for shopping. We go shopping. Remove the ‘ for’. The same way we remove ‘of’ after ‘comprising ‘and ‘ boasting. It is not painful. Just remove them and stop the habit.

None of them are…(incorrect). None of the girls were present (incorrect). None are impressed (incorrect). Look! None means ‘not even one of….please note.” We are talking about one person here…of the many girls, boys, women etc. So we can only say none ‘ is…,’ not ‘are…’ The correct I must admit, sounds wrong. We are fanatically used to the common error.

Finally, we do not board commuters. This is not only funny; it is ridiculous. A commuter is not a vehicle. A commuter is a person who uses the public vehicle to and from work. The small bus (zviya zvatinoti ma ‘ kombi’ in Zimbabwe, matatu in Nigeria) is called a commuter omnibus in English. ‘Omni’ means ‘ for all’; so we are talking about a bus used publicly by all and sundry.

Common errors are a cancer in our children’s language. But the children do not bring them with them from womb. They learn them from us; parents, teachers, peers, friends, siblings etc.

Thank God the new curriculum English textbooks are declaring a war against these stumbling blocks in the efforts of our pupils to excel in the mastery of both spoken and written English Language skills.

Let us join hands in the zero-tolerance war against common errors. You will find even our Heritage Studies, Geography, our Science, our essays, our public speaking and debating will be far better, (not ‘ far much better’ please note - another stubborn, indelible, common error.)

If we do not deal will these embarrassing errors in school, they will certainly follow us into the work place; into classrooms, boardrooms, media houses-radios, newspapers and magazines. And what happens? You do yourself a terrible personal disfavour as a writer or speaker, in the context of image and integrity of course, and people’s perception of you. And you certainly compromise the standard of your product. If you speak or write for business, the errors we are talking about here are a silent killer of your clientèle’s interest. For students, the consequences are obvious and need no emphasis.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK WHEN WE HAVE A NEW SET OF COMMON ERRORS, BE MY GUEST! ZERO TOLERANCE TO COMMON ERROS! Aluta continua! The war continues.