Dr HA is ‘Governmental’ spokesman; new students ‘trained what’ to do
ENTERPRESS? We doubt. Kitangengi, we have been reliably informed, is a business undertaking that deals in game meat…zebra, buffalo, ostrich, etc. Now that is good business, and the outfit that handles it is an ENTERPRISE and the plural for it—which seems to be what the owners wanted the signwriter to paint—is ENTERPRISES (not enterpress). Trust signwriters! PHOTO | COURTESY OF WHATSAPP
You are reading this article on a very auspicious day. Yes, because today is the day that, so says the Holy Bible, Lord Jesus was born. Yes, it is Xmas.
We have noticed some colleagues spell this word as “Xmass”, which is wrong, just as we would err if we wrote “Christmass” instead of Christmas.
Let us be specific now. In the December 20 edition of the Sunday tabloid whose boss signs this columnist’s paycheque, an opinion scribbler writes:
“About four years ago, Kelvin Balogun…told a conference that half of 10 million GRADUATES from over 668 universities in Africa who GRADUATE every year do not get a job.”
How about dropping one “graduate” in order to kill the monotony? Here is our rewrite:
“About four years ago, Kelvin Balogun…told a conference that half of 10 million YOUTH from over 668 universities in Africa who GRADUATE every year do not get a job.”
The columnist continues with her advice to African graduates:
“Being capable means that they CAN BE ABLE to catapult themselves into the world and make something out of their lives.”
“Can”, let us state it for a nth time in this very column, means exactly the same thing as “be able”. Which means, by saying, “can be able”, you are entangling yourself with tautological nonsense.
On Page 2 of this same tabloid, there is a story entitled, ‘Be ethical in sample handling, medics urged’, and therein, the scribbler writes:
“Students were TRAINED WHAT to consider when collecting, storing and transporting samples for testing…”
Nope! Learners are not trained what to do; they are trained ON what to do. However, if you are averse to using the preposition ON, then you can write, “Learners are TAUGHT what to do.”
On Page 4 of the same edition, there is a longish piece entitled, ‘A year to forget! Deaths that shocked Tanzanians in 2020’, and therein, the scribbler writes:
Ex-President…died aged 81 at a Dar es Salaam hospital WHERE HE WAS RECEIVING TREATMENT.”
This one is another case of tautological hogwash. Why, when you tell your readers that someone died in hospital, it is a waste of time to further tell them that person died as he received treatment. It is too obvious, for there are no records of anyone dying in hospital while receiving anything else other than treatment!
And now, a look at what we unearthed on a pictorial page of the Saturday, December 19 edition of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet. We owe it all to a bonanza of photographs for which the caption writers supplied readers with a variety of gemstones. Here we go…
• “Zonal Traffic Officer ACP Nuru Selemani presents a certificate of Road Safety Ambassador to one of Turiani Secondary School students, Mwanaidi Kibanke, AFTER ATTENDING a comprehensive road safety education programme…”
The structure of this sentence gives the (wrong) impression that it was ACP Selemani who attended the road safety training. The caption writer could have avoided the conveyance of the “fake news” with this rewrite:
“Zonal Traffic Officer…presents a certificate of Road Safety Ambassador to Turiani Secondary School student Mwanaidi Kibanke WHO ATTENDED a comprehensive road safety education…”
• “Minister FOR State in the Prime Minister’s Office…Jenista Mhagama (centre) accompanied…”
Official titles are fixed scribblers have no licence to alter them, even if the alteration doesn’t distort the content of the title or grammar. Hon Mhagama officially designated as Minister OF (not for) State in the PMO’s.
• “GOVERNMENTAL Spokesperson and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sport, Dr Hassan Abbasi, speaks to stakeholders…”
Here again, our caption writing colleague errs by referring Dr Hassan Abbasi “governmental” instead of GOVERNMENT spokesperson as he is officially designated.
