You walked FOR 5km to school? No, you WALKED 5km to school

We are loaded with so many gems collected over the week that we will skip the usual “tutorial” blah-blah we offer and move straight to our key task of dishing out to our readers the stuff we have, so here we go…

On Page 3 of the tabloid closely associated with this columnist (Saturday, April 3 edition), there is a photo featuring the TZ President making an address and the following is what the caption scribbler wrote:

“President Samia Suluhu Hassan speaks after SWEARING-IN deputy ministers and the Chief Secretary at a ceremony held at State House in Dodoma”.

We have a problem with the expression in capitals—swearing-in—because, although the scribbler has used it as a verb, it is actually a noun, thanks to the hyphen. Remove the hyphen, and there would be no problem with the sentence. “…after swearing in deputy ministers…”

If the scribbler was overly keen on retaining the hyphen, then he should rewrite the sentence in the following way:

“President Samia Suluhu Hassan speaks after THE SWEARING-IN OF deputy ministers and the Chief Secretary at a ceremony held at State House in Dodoma.”

Still on Saturday, April 03, where we have this story on Page 5 of Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet entitled, ‘Nyaligongo villagers volunteer to construct dispensary’.

Therein, the scribbler purports to quote the Nyaligongo Village Chairman Masumbuko Lushona and writes this:

“We normally walk FOR five kilometres IN search FOR medical services…”

The preposition “for” has been unduly used in the first instance and in the second, it has been wrongly used. We shall redeem the sentence with a rewrite: “We normally WALK FIVE kilometres in search OF (not for) medical services…” Or: we walk…SEARCHING FOR medical services.

We have more gems on the above cited page, thanks to a story headlined, ‘MP Abood hails President Samia’. Writes our colleague in Para 2 of his story:

“Abood asked Tanzanians…to pray for her so that SHE CAN BE ABLE to implement all strategic projects and improve the economy of the country.”

Can be able? This is one tautological nonsense that is refusing to go away from the heads of our scribblers in Bongo, and indeed, those of many others in East Africa! Should we repeat it the zillionth time, that CAN means exactly the same thing as BE ABLE? Bah!

And now, some goodies from Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet, also of Saturday, April 03.

On Page 4 of this edition, there is a story entitled ‘Court upholds death penalty on Mbeya residents’, in which the scribbler, purporting to quote what judges stated in their deliberation, writes the following:

“A boy said while AT COMPOUND where they were playing football, the appellant stood watching them play and managed to RETURN THE BALL BACK the first time.”

Article THE is missing between “at” and “compound” but that is a forgivable linguistic crime. However, we find it most incredulous that certain persons amongst our scribbling colleagues—not to mention of our gatekeepers—who allow themselves to talk of “return back”!

It is like they conjure cases in which someone can return “forward”. Bah! Let us reiterate: You simply return things, you don’t return them back!

On its sports page, the broadsheet has a story headlined, ‘TFF slaps Mwakalebela five-year ban’ and therein, the scribbler writes for his readers what he purports to be what the soccer governing body in Bongo said in a statement:

“On February 19th, Mwakalebela conducted a press conference where he ACCUSED Tanzania Football Federation, the Tanzania Premier League Board and its committee THAT they are biased in cases involving Yanga…”

Accused that they…? Nope, people are accused OF doing something. It means our colleague ought to have written this:

”… he ACCUSED Tanzania Football Federation, the Tanzania Premier League Board and its committee OF BEING biased in cases involving Yanga…”

Ah, this treacherous language called English!