‘Reverse Back’ Wrong

Ebere Wabara

O VERHEARD yesterday: “Reverse back”. Get it right: reverse—you cannot ‘reverse front’! ‘Reverse’ implies going back.

“Idahosa wants INEC to uphold APC primary of February 17 that produced him as flag-bearer” (THISDAY front-page kicker, March 5) This way henceforth: standard-bearer, not flag-bearer.

You are welcome to South-South Nigeria: “Businessman strangled to death in Eket” Delete ‘to death’ to foreclose more casualties! A rewrite: Businessman strangled in Eket

This edition continues with THE NATION ON SUNDAY of March 3: “A key factor in resolving the political conundrum in Taraba State…unexpectedly died last week, upsetting calculations about the conflict.” Apart from, perhaps, the condemned criminal who has a date with the hangman, nobody knows when their death will come. So, that aspect of ‘unexpectedly’ smacks of loose thinking. The speaker simply died last week. As the Bible states, no man knows the day or time of his exit—except, possibly, supernatural cases like money rituals!

The next set of grammatical fatalities is still from THE NATION ON SUNDAY: “Last Saturday, October 21, was no different as a large crowd converged at (on) the venue to….”

Lastly from the weekly comment under review: “While we join the government and people of Anambra in mourning the dead….” Do we mourn the living? Just mourning!

“…Obiano’s critics said however he is (was) little unknown….”

“…have been holding consultations in his sprawling country home mansion and soliciting for his blessings.” Yank away ‘for’ to avoid syntactic ripples.

“…foreign exchange inflow through export of shrimps and other fisheries (fishery) products.”

“2027: Nigeria won’t breakup (break up), says good governance group”

Let us welcome DAILY INDEPENDENT back to this column after a long absence. Its March 4 edition goofed: “Moves to stop girl-child marriage intensifies (intensified)” I hope the currency dictates of headline casting did not confuse the sub-editor.

“How do I recognize NUC approved universities?” A voice of your own: NUC-approved varsities

Leadership of February 14 contained a basketful of school-boy howlers starting from its politics page: “We are building evidences against those who are using….” ‘Evidence’ is an uncountable noun and has no plural form. Use a singular verb after it and note that it is wrong to say ‘true evidence’ instead of ‘reliable evidence’. Furthermore, you can say a piece/scrap/shred of evidence. Phrases are sweet if correctly used.

From the politics page we move to the views page which circulated a-dozen-and-half Basic One infelicities that question the writer’s professorship: “The poor infrastructural facilities in the sector is (why?) compounded by….”

“…as unmitigated abuses in this all important (all-important) department of our national life.”

“…they stock sub-standard equipments in addition to….” ‘Equipment’ is non-count.

“…the agency carried out massive inspection (a massive inspection) of private health facilities in the state.”

“…some were located in distressed building (a distressed building) and some others (and others) were located (cited) in filthy environments.”

“Some of the hospitals he disclosed operated….” A rewrite: Some of the hospitals, he disclosed, operated….

“Quite a number of the clinics (a comma) he stated (another comma) have (had) male nurses functioning as medical doctors.”

“It is an open secret there is sizeable (a sizeable) number of quack doctors practicing (practising—British English verb) in Lagos….”

“It is sad that we have degenerated to (into) a level….”

“But what is not known is what happen (happens) to such impostors at the end of the day.”

“Asides (sic) from the dearth of medical doctors in the health sector has put immense pressure on those on ground.” Existential humanism: just begin the sentence from (or overhaul the entire wrong-headed entry): The dearth or aside, the dearth

“…listen to their patients (patients’) complaints.”

“…thousands of Nigerians that seek for health care abroad.” Delete ‘for’ to avoid raucousness!

“Amidst this (Amid these) most Nigerians have opted to patronize private clinics despite its (their) obvious shortcomings.”

Finally from Leadership Views Page of February 14 under review: “This revelation will not surprise any Nigeria (Nigerian) who patronize (patronizes) even the public hospitals.” Remove ‘the’! 

“…considering the capacity crowd the adoration ground attracts on weekly (a weekly) basis….”

“…some fellows raised alarm (the alarm) on (about) ‘fire’, which made the worshippers trooping (troop) out to scamper for safety and, in the process, fell over themselves (one another).”

Lastly from the back page: “The NFF…must get its acts (act) together by looking….”

Please note that remuneration, like infrastructure, is both a countable and uncountable noun in stateside English. Machinery has the plural machineries.’ 

Avoid ‘gather together’, ‘join together’ and other such biblical expressions—use just ‘gather’ or ‘join’. Apart from elegance, they convey the message intended devoid of clumsiness.

Next is the Views Page of Daily Trust, February 7: “Crisis of unemployment in Nigeria” ‘Unemployment’ is a challenge/crisis/problem anywhere. So, unemployment in Nigeria….

“…under the auspices of the OECD, alerted the nation of (to) the danger ahead unless something was done about youth unemployment.”

“It is both a big risk and economic waste to be investing heavily on (in) human capital development without….”

“The PDP has expressed serious concern at the fire outbreak, describing it as suspicious.” Just delete ‘outbreak’ on grounds of redundancy.

“Nigeria in search for (of) an enduring political structure…”

“NGO sensitises (sensitizes, preferably) girls on (to) engineering, STEM-related activities”

“…or through these number….” EFCC please take note: this number

“We urge that that it will (should) be sustained.”

“For instance, NLC would (should) have opposed land border closure by the immediate past government when it was clear that in Nigeria….”

“Zamfara, C’River, Adamawa, Ogun top cholera cases (case) list”

“Imo agog as APC Flags (sic) off mother of all campaign” Get it right: mother of all campaigns

“Chief Whip stages walk out (walkout) to protest Senate president’s out-of-order ruling”

“The management of the radio station, in a statement (how else?), said his body has (had) been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre….”

“The trustees of Royal Sports Club International, Abuja (another comma) felicitate with (felicitate) you as you mark the Golden (sic) age of 50.” Write right: ‘of 50’ is an overkill!

“13 teams battle for glory as activities build-up (build up)”