‘Equipment,’ ‘Cutlery’ Non-count

Ebere Wabara

YOU are welcome: “Nigerian universities have continued to go down in rating with its (their) antiquated and obsolete equipments….” ‘Equipment’ and ‘cutlery’ are uncountable (non-count).

“…he left Abuja en route (en route to) South Africa, yesterday afternoon.” 

“…especially at the beginning as those that paid the piper will certainly desire to dictate (call) the tune.” He who pays the piper calls (not dictates) the tune.

“Questions over N500m Benue flood relief (flood-relief) fund”

“It is no gain saying (gainsaying) that both officers and civilians sentenced on the incidence (incident) must….” ‘Incidence’ deals with frequencies, while ‘incident’ refers to occurrences.

“The suicide bombings, according to reports, had happened at about 4.30 pm (p.m.) when….” Time precision: either at 4.30 p.m. or about 4.30 p.m. The idea of using both in the same environment smacks of cloudy thinking!

“Of course, the damages in goods and even cash will remain….” ‘Damage’ is non-count except in legal or other reparative circumstances.

“…write on the enduring power of the moneybag and confidant of presidents.” The second coming of Arthur Eze: power of the moneybags. ‘Moneybag’ is the bag containing a moneybags’ money.

“In one of the minster’s house (houses) I saw….”

“The man said he will (would) never say….”

“Sources close to Aisha who became the third wife of Shinkafi in 2008 said the union has (had) broken down irrevocably….”

“Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays (sic!).” This way: every Sunday or all Sundays!

THISDAY of January 4 is the next offender with a few flaws: “He is also advocating for airlines to have the right equipment and manpower to prevent future air accidents.” First, you cannot prevent past accidents! Delete ‘for’ and ‘future’ for lexical safety.

“Vigilante (Vigilance) groups partner to beef up security in Ikorodu” (Vanguard Metro, January 2)

“But I have not seen it happened (happen) in Rivers State” (THE GUARDIAN, January 2)

“Tragedy as civil defence personnel kills mobile policeman” (DAILY TRUST, January 2) ‘Personnel’ is a collective term and should not be used just for an individual.

“Successor administrations had always declined paying backlog (backlogs/a backlog) of debts….”  Mental handicap: Successive administrations.

“Expectedly, the man at the centre of controversy had spared no effort to deny the allegations, pointing accusing fingers at the press and his detractors.”  I say no to moronic writing: Yank away ‘accusing’ because pointing the finger (not fingers!) means accusation.

“The opposition is (are) not resting on its (their) oars, and have equally picked up the gauntlet to wade through the web of litigation.” Oppositional usage must be consistent with the verb formation: either singular or plural—not a mix.

“Now that he had taken a honourable step, it is left for the rest of his colleagues to do justice to the allegations.”  Powers of thought: an honourable step.

“It is significant that the AU’s plan for the continent at the onset (outset in this context) does not include either democracy or development.”

“…the president and his wife were some of the notables (notabilities) who arrived for the service.”

“The innocent undergraduate is fast becoming a rare specie (species) threatened with extinction.”

“Victims of this psychosocial hypnotism remain most pathetic human beings literarily going through life with mental numbness.”  The yoke of linguistic freedom: a distinction between literarily and literally, which applies here.

“Today, we present to you some of those inspiration (inspirational) touches and personal hints and tips that will make your year.”

“For some (quite otiose) fifty years now, both countries have been at each others (other’s) throat over the status of….”

“The last but not the least” This way: Last but not least

“…the creation of a new society different from that inherited from colonialism will amount to allowing Africa to continue to groan under the reigns of bad governance.”  A departure from arrested English: reins of bad government.

“NURTW accuses LG officials of harrassment” Please, spell-check always: harassment.

“Directional posts in the secretariat complex is (are) desirable” Faulty sentence as headline!

“In this speech at (on) the occasion, the editor of. …” 

“The police…has (have) reacted to the situation by threatening a shoot-at-sight order.”  In pursuit of justice in service of community: shoot-on-sight order.

“Everything put together, therefore, the citizenry has (have) a right to expect more effective policing then it has (they have) got.”

“Some police (policemen) have been involved in what looked like armed robbery activities.”

“The nation is seeking to forget the state violence of yesteryears.”  Our complete newspaper, a new-look product: ‘yesteryear’ is uncountable.

“Sokoto Police poise (poised) to rout robbery gang”

“…there is bound to be real problem (a real problem) in the country.”

“…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.”

“…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