Grammar Star

In this lesson, we shall consider some words that are often used wrongly. These words almost sound alike, and that is where the confusion lies. The speaker or writer may mean to express one thing, but will end up using another word for it. We shall see those words in the following pairs: Defy and defile Defy : to refuse to obey; to resist or fight. E.g., i. He defied his parents and embarked on the journey. ii. The protesting students have continued to defy all effort to stop them. Defile : to make unclean; to violate; to desecrate. E.g., i. The man was accused of defiling the minor. ii. The young man defiled the shrine when he walked in with his shoes Eligible and legible  Eligible : permitted; qualified; suitable. E.g., i. Only eligible voters can participate during elections. ii. He was not chosen for the competition becuase he was not eligible. Legible : readable. E.g., i. His handwriting is not legible. ii. The document is very legible. Perpetuate and perpetrate  Perpetua...

Did you know that round off and round up mean different things? Look at these: Round off: conclude or summarize 1. The moderator signaled the guest speaker to round off his speech. 2. "Please, round off. Time is no more on our side," the man said. Round up: arrest or gather 1. The police rounded up the criminals last Friday. 2. The Maths teacher asked the students to  round up the figures to a whole number. I hope you can see the difference now. Please, leave a comment, questions and suggestions on the post. Kindly share after reading. Thanks.

When we want to change direct to indirect speech, we are faced with the word "say". Most of those times, we keep repeating the word "say" as in "He said...", "She said..." At those times, using the right word will go a long way in conveying the appropriate message.  Thus, in this lesson, we are going to look at the verbs we can use in place of "say". When you want to express  1. Agreement, use:  admit, confirm, continue, declare, maintain, reply, state, suggest. 2. Command, use: command, direct, insist, instruct, order. 3. Distress, use: alert, complain, cry, groan, lament, mutter, regret, shout. 4. Refusal, use: contradict, criticize, counter, deny, forbid, oppose, refute. 5. Request, use: advise, ask, beg, caution, entreat, plead, request, urge, wish. Using the words above in appropriate places will eliminate monotony and save one from the embarrassment arising from frequent use of the verb "say".  ### Let's have your co...

Easter is just few days away from now. As we prepare for the day, we shall be considering a word used to describe the event of the Day and other confusing words. 1. Between "arose" and "arouse" Let's look at the two words: i. Arose (past tense of arise): - to get up or stand up : rise.  E.g. He arose from the grave. - especially: to get up from sleep or after lying down. E.g. He arose (from bed) refreshed after a good night's sleep. ii. Arouse  /ə-ˈrauz/: - to cause (an emotional or mental state) E.g. The report aroused a great deal of public interest. - to awaken the passion or (sexual) desire in someone. E.g. The alleged rapist said he was aroused by the lady's nude body. - to wake (someone) from sleep. E.g. The noise of the children playing could  arouse him. Note that the two vowel letters / ou / in "arouse" sound like / aw / as in "out" while the letter /o/ in "arose" has a different sound. Often times, some p...

This week, we shall be looking at how we mix direct and reported speeches in statements and how we can remedy that. A lot of us are guilty of this error without knowing it. Look at the following: 1. The man asked me what is my name. 2. He also said who is my father.  3. He asked me what is the question. 4. The woman asked me what is my concern in the matter. 5. She said I will not take any insult from anyone.  These are some of the ways we mix up direct and reported speeches in statements. Other examples of such mix-ups abound.  How can we remedy this?  First, we have to understand that a direct speech refers to the exact speech of a speaker, usually with the use of quotation marks. Let's take some of our examples from the ones above: 1. The man asked, "What is your name?" 2. "What is your concern in the matter?" the woman asked. Consider the examples above. You will notice that the exact words of the speakers have been enclosed in quotation marks.  In a repor...

Some wrongly used words at a glance Our topic for this week has been drawn from words we use almost everyday. Ironically, as simple as these words may seem, some people often use them wrongly either in their daily conversation or writing. Sometimes the user may actually have the correct meaning of such words in mind, but will either use a wrong one or spell it in a way that gives it an entirely different meaning. Let's consider the following word pairs: 1. Fatal and Ghastly : Most people think that when there is a road crash leading to severe injuries and destruction of vehicles, it is fatal! The word 'fatal' is a derivative from the noun 'fate' which means 'destiny', 'an inevitable outcome', etc. Thus, an accident is described as 'fatal' when it resulted in death (or fatality). In other words, when an accident is very shocking or horrible and results in severe injuries and destruction without any death, it is not 'fatal'; it is '...

In our discussion today, we shall examine the problems associated with some expressions connected to money or financial transactions.  Between hired purchase and hire purchase The fact that many verbal adjectives come in past tense makes a lot of people to overgeneralise. The question could be: if we have registered voter and hardened criminal, why won’t we have hired purchase? Unfortunately, the analogy does not stand. The correct expression is ‘hire purchase’ – defined as ‘a system by which one pays for a thing in regular installments while having the use of it’. I bought the car on hired purchase. (Wrong) I bought the car on hire purchase. (Correct) Instalmentally ? Another widely used foul expression is ‘paying instalmentally’. It is true that ‘a sum of money due as one of several equal payments for something, spread over an agreed time’, is called an instalment.  But English language frowns on turning the word into an adverb here. So, while you may have He bought it impul...

Have you heard about silent letters before? Did you know that some letters that make up some words in English Language do not sound out when those words are pronounced? Some of those letters occur at the beginning, middle or ending of words. We are going to examine some of those words with such letters in this post. 1. Silent letters at the beginning of words: e.g. honour, honesty, hour, heir, etc. The letter 'h' in those words are silent and as such are not pronounced. Thus, one will hear 'onor', 'onesty', 'our' and 'air' whenever those words are pronounced. 2. Silent letters at the beginning and middle of words: eg. wrestle, whistle, castle, hustle, listen, debt, often, receipt, etc. The silent letters in these words are letters 'w', 'h', 'b', 'p' and 't'. Thus, in pronunciation we hear 'resl', wisl', 'casl', 'det', 'receet' and 'hosl'. 3. Silent letters at the ...

A lot of people, especially social media users, don't know the difference between these two verbs and the appropriate situations to use each. Note that both words are formed from the verb 'be'.  'Been' is used with the auxiliary 'has', 'have' or 'had' to form a perfect tense either in the present or past.  For example; ●The thief has been arrested. ●The thieves have been arrested. ●The thief/thieves had been arrested. On the other hand, 'Being' is used with the auxiliary 'is', 'was', 'are' or 'were' to form a continuous tense in the present or past. For example; ●The suspect is/was being interrogated at the police station. ●The suspects are/were being interrogated at the police station. Consider the following: ●It's been raining all day. ●It's being done that way in that village. The two examples above can be written the following ways: ●It has been raining all day. ●It is being done that way in...

A common error notable among English language users in Nigeria is adding the plural marker "s" to nouns where it is not needed. This is certainly a consequence of the inability of many Nigerian speakers and writers of the English language to keep up with the quirky, illogical irregularities that are so annoyingly typical of the conventions of English grammar. It is common knowledge that the plural form of most nouns in English is created by adding the letter “s” to the end of nouns. But sometimes it requires adding “es” to nouns that end in “ch,” “x,” “s” or s-like sounds, such as “inches,” “axes,” “lashes,” etc. There are also, of course, irregular forms like “children” as the plural of “child,” “oxen as the plural of “ox,” etc. We have uncountable—or, if you will, “non-count”— nouns, which cannot be modified or combined with the indefinite articles “a” or “an.” This is precisely where Nigerians fall foul of standard usage norms. Most educated Nigerians generally know that n...

One of the most common mistakes in English is the incorrect usage of the phrase 'If I was' . In fact, you will hear native speakers commonly make this mistake. Here are a few examples of this mistake: 1. If I was you, I would try to find a new job. 2. If she was here, she would explain the situation. In both sentences, 'was' is used instead of the correct form 'were'. However, sometimes If I was or If she was is correct!  Here are two examples: 1. If I was late for class, the teacher gave me extra homework. 2. If he was asked a question, he replied quickly and honestly. What's the difference between these two types of sentences? Why is one correct and the other not? The answer is that the first two sentences are used to express imaginary situations. These sentences require the subjective form 'were' for all subjects 1. If I were you, I would try to find a new job. 2. If she were here, she would explain the situation. The second group of sentences ref...

There have been lingering arguments on whether it is appropriate to use the singular verb 'is' or its plural form 'are' when introducing one's name. Some people argue that because the person is bearing more than one name, as in James Paul Moses, the verb to be used must be 'are' instead of 'is'. Note that each human being has just one name. Let's look at the following: 1. Tope Johnson Balogun 2. Ramat Ihuoma Hassan  The names in (1) and (2) above refer to different individuals with each set of name representing one person only. We need to understand that irrespective of the length of the name or its number, since it refers to only one person, the verb to be used MUST be the singular form 'is'. Example: My name is Ramat Ihuoma Tope Anuoluwapo. Not: My names are Ramat Ihuoma Tope Anuoluwapo. However, if the person has an alias, he can introduce his real name and include the alias. A musician, for example, whose real name is Tope Johnson Bal...

The above is a phrasal verb we often use when we want to express a slow movement in carrying out a task or an action. Before we proceed, it is important we explain what a phrasal verb is.  A phrasal verb is an expression formed by a combination of a verb and a preposition or adverb or both and functions as a verb whose meaning is different from the combined meanings of the individual words. For example: take off, take on, look up to, etc. These words cannot be explained by the individual words, but by considering all the words combined. The focus of this lesson is to consider whether to use the word 'lack' or 'lag' together with 'behind' to express that.  More often than not, most second users of English language, especially high school students and social media users, get confused at the correct words to use in situations such as this. Such persons, sometimes, rely on people they deem to be more learned than they are and copy from them without checking to verif...

We shall be looking at the idiomatic expression below: "...eat your cake and have it".   For example:  You can't eat your cake and have it. The expression above is wrong. The correct form of it takes a reverse order. It goes thus: You can't have your cake and eat it. Like and follow this page for more. Good afternoon!