Mature, Not ‘Matured’, Ladies

EXPRESSION By Ebere Wabara

“IT is also instructive that China, the world’s populous (most populous) country of about 1.6 billion people….”

“Controversy trails FG’s rail system over incessant trains breakdown (train breakdowns)”

THE NATION of June 21 circulated two headline solecisms: “Customs intercept $110,060 at Lagos Port” Get it right: Customs intercepts.

“Seven die in Ibadan road crash” The road did not crash! A rewrite: Seven die in auto/vehicular crash on Ibadan road.

“Why are matured ladies still single?” Where are the bridegrooms? Mature (not matured) ladies are choosy!

“In actual fact (which one is not actual?), the Nigerian police has (have) constituted itself (themselves) into a terror gang, perhaps because of the protracted military rule.” One of these days we may get to read ‘factual fact’!

“He does not bother them that about six kilometers (kilometres) to (from) their station….”

“During the electioneering campaign that ushered in the present regime, many stories were bandied about.” Strike out ‘campaign’ in the interest of tautology-free writing.

“They are therefore teaching in the so-called satellite campuses of sister universities or in evening classes to supplement their wages.” Get it right: on (not in) campuses.

“Senate President, in response to a question, has (had) jokingly said.…”

“Armed robbers paid him a non-courtesy call at about 7.30 p.m.” Back to the basics: either at 7.30 p.m. or about 7.30 p.m., depending on the level of exactitude. By the way, do bandits pay courtesy calls?

“As it was remarked sometimes (sometime) ago….”

“…at least not in any way that the day had given him any hint of what the day had in stock (store) for him.”

“It is make belief” This way: make-believe.

“…it cuts in from the next street whether along the very busy New Aba-Umuahia Road or at the outskirts of the city.” Travelogue: on the outskirts of the city.

“The sweet look of the cards do (does) not give any inkling of a country nearly three decades old.” Wordsmiths call it error of attraction.

“Beside the African Union dastardly act which shocked and outraged the Nigerian society….” There is a world of difference between ‘beside’ and ‘besides’ (which applies here).

“In fact, a dangerous development such as cultism should not be treated with a kid’s glove.” Get it right: kid gloves.

“The impression I was given was that IBB had morbid fear of the wild, wild west, and would never cross the River Niger again, talk less (let alone) coming to Lagos.”

“Anything to create a reasonably safe distance between us and the military administrator’s siren was alright.” Current form: all right, if you subscribe to formal (Standard) English. ‘Alright’ is an unacceptable spelling except in the US.

“The NLC’s protest march to the National Assembly brought some reassurance to the strong vocal resistance to what understandably is viewed as betrayal by the legislators.” Contextually, I assert that ‘protest’ is clearly redundant here.

“He has indeed made remarkable damages on earth with a little help from its inhabitants.” ‘Damage’ is uncountable except in legal reparations.

“But rather than see the move as an affront against (to) the military….”

“What this therefore calls is (are) clear-cut criteria for determining who goes and who is retained at the end of the pruning exercise.” What is the function of ‘exercise’ here? And this: criterion (singular); criteria (plural).

“If each civil servant had at least a two-bedroom house in Abuja, very few Nigerians could have raised any eyebrow on the furniture allowance for lawmakers as was done.”

Our mandate, their meal ticket: raise eyebrows (fixed expression).

“…and that money spent on the comfort of the executive and legislative members of government does not extend into (to) the pockets of civil servants or other members of the civil society”

“When it did, it was time to head to (for) the hanger for a heavy check, sometimes called a D check.”

“Lagos Chamber of Commerce President…receiving momentos” Till eternity: mementos

“Merger of Japan’s three banks elicit reactions” Why the noun phrase-verb disagreement? Another error of attraction

“Governors biting more than they can chew” A rewrite: Governors biting off more than they can chew

A subscriber to this column sent a message to me last weekend on the correctness of “wake” and “wake-keep”. There are no such words as “wake-keeping” and “wake-keep”. The right expression is “wake.” Virtually all funeral announcements in this part of the world disseminate this blunder in blissful flamboyance. And for clarity or emphasis: Christian wake.

“He is frank to the point of recklessness and does not bath (bat) an eyelid about sensibilities.”

“Successful candidates in the exam are placed into (in) universities depending on their performances and choices.”

“The picture one is likely to get is that of lawmakers yet to come to grip (grips) with the seriousness of what their duties entail.”

“Both palatable and heart-rending news are (is) most often broken there.” ‘News’ is uncountable.

“…his skin must have toughen (you mean toughened?) such that nothing can stir his emotion as to make him cry.”

“They were, in their primes (prime), sent on a journey from which nobody returns.”

“Its police, too, began investigations culminating into (in) arrest of some suspects.”

“Since last week Tuesday….” Either last Tuesday or Tuesday, last week. ‘Last week Tuesday’ indicates lexical ignorance.

“…our politicians should realise (realize, preferably) that if they can hold the country into (to) ransom for their jumbo pay, then footballers should not be blamed if they do same (the same).”

“In Nigeria, it was designed by the military dictators as bait to divert the attention of the people from the enormity of their loots.” No questions: ‘loot’ is non-count.

“…it was seen as a child of necessity aimed at restoring the primary education sub- sector which was in crisis then back to a sound foundation.” Scrap ‘back’ to avoid being charged with word abuse. ‘Restoration’ has taken care of the verbiage.

“All that we have in the present Nigerian society is an hostile (a hostile) environment for the youths and children.” Either youth or the youth

“Having succeeded in intimidating their opponents at primaries, the electorate became a work-over….” A time to learn: walk-over.