Being accused of…

language styleSAMPLE 1: “Moses is alleged by the Delta State Police Command of aiding the robbery activities of his son, Samuel Iweh, 26, and members of the gang in Asaba, Delta State.”(72-YR-Old Man in Soup for Aiding Robber-son, Gang, The Sun, 18 February, 2018)

Let’s note the expression, “alleged…of” which occurs in the following structure: “Moses is alleged…of aiding the robbery activities of his son…” The particle of, attached to the verb alleged, properly collocates with the verb accuse: accuse of. The expression “alleged…of” is clearly unidiomatic. In addition, it is important to note that the syntactic structure in which the verb allege occurs is different from that in which accuse occurs, even though they have similar meanings.

Equally important is the fact that the particle for does not go with the verb accuse. The appropriate particle is: of.

Please read the following sentences: 1) The man and his wife accused each other of infidelity. 2) The APC and the PDP accused each other of manipulating the electoral process in certain parts of the country. 3) Nobody in good conscience could accuse General MuhammaduBuhari of stealing public funds. 4) When a party fails to win an election, it tends to accuse INEC of colluding with the other party to commit electoral fraud. 5) The governor accused his deputy of scheming to unseat him. 6) Voters accused soldiers of intimidating them on the day of the election.

Now the verb allege:  The following sentences, produced by some Nigerians, are defective: 1a)* We quarrel often because he keeps alleging me of things I know nothing about. Better: 1b) We quarrel often because he keeps accusing me of things I know nothing about. 2a) *The parties are alleging each other of manipulating the electoral process. Better: 2b) The parties are accusing each other of manipulating the electoral process.  3a) *The man alleged his lawyer of colluding with his opponent. Better: 3b) The man accused his lawyer of colluding with his opponent. 4a) *The old woman alleged the lady running the mill of stealing some of her pepper and grains. Better: 4b) The old woman accused the lady running the mill of stealing some of her pepper and grains. 5a) *The man alleged his wife of cheating on him. Better: 5b) The man accused his wife of cheating on him. 6a) *The union alleged the company of failing to fulfil its promise. Better: 6b) The union accused the company of failing to fulfil its promise.

Readers may be interested in knowing that there is a proper way of using the word allege. Please read the following sentences: 1) Members of the president’s cabinet were alleged to have sabotaged his efforts to improve electricity supply. 2) The reports of the outcome of the election were alleged to have been written before the election took place. 3) Members of the ruling party alleged that INEC was partial in favour of a particular party. 4) The suspect alleged that the deceased was sleeping with his (the suspect’s) wife. 5) The lawyer alleged that the judge had been compromised. 6) It wasallegedthat a particular landlord had links with the armed robbers terrorizing the neighbourhood. 7) It wasalleged that the coach was taking bribes before admitting the players into the camp.

Sample 2: “He got very violent and suddenly put his bible on the floor and told me to stand on it and swear that I had not being with another man.”(My Husband Once Ordered me out in the Middle of the Night, The Nation, Sunday, 26 November, 2017)

I draw readers’ attention to the form being which occurs in the following context: “I had not being with another man.” Let us note the relationship between the formhad and the form being. It must be noted immediately that the latter (being) is a wrong choice in view of its relationship with the form had. The appropriate form is been.

To understand the nature of the error, we need to sketch and illustrate the two rules that are here confused. First is the rule of the perfect tense situated in the structure of the passive tense. The structure is of the form: have plus been, where been represents the past participle. Now read the following sentences: 1a) The company hasbought new cars (active sentence in the perfect tense) 1b) New cars have been bought by the company (passive sentence in the perfect tense). 2a) The police have arrested the criminal. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 2b) The criminal has been arrested by the police. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 3a) Thattransaction has created many fraudulent loopholes. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 3b) Many fraudulent loopholes have been created by that transaction. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 4a) The central government had constructed numerous roads. (active sentence in the perfect tense.) 4b) Numerous roads had been constructed by the central government. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 5a) Soldiers have invaded the crisis-torn zone (active sentence in the perfect tense) 5b) The crisis-torn zone has been invaded by soldiers. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 6a) The library has stocked over six million books. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 6b) Over six million books have been stocked by the library. (passive sentence in the perfect tense)

The second rule is that of the continuous or progressive tense. The rule is of the nature: be plus the ing form of the verb (ieis going; was singing; werewashing; are training; etc). Let’s read the following sentences: 1a) The church is planning a one-week revival programme. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 1b) A one-week revival programmeis beingplanned by the church. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 2a) The people were distributing seditious pamphlets. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 2b) Seditious pamphlets were beingdistributed by the people. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 3a) The scientists are examining the specimen. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 3b) The specimen is being examined by the scientists. (passive sentence in the progressive tense). 4a) The girl was washing the clothes. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 4b) The clothes were being washed by the girl. (the passive sentence in the progressive tense) 5a) The musician is composing new songs. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 5b) New songs are being composed by the musician. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 6a) The lecturer isgrading the scripts. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 6b) The scripts are being graded by the lecturer. (passive sentence in the progressive)

Furthermore, the form been can also occur in the following contexts: 1) You have been a wonderful host. 2) It has been an exciting experience. 3) It hasbeen some time! 4) She has been a little careless. 5) She has been somewhat unlucky in her choice of husband.

At this point we need to make a distinction between the forms been and being. The form being occurs in the context of the continuous or progressive tense within the passive structure. That is, two conditions are absolutely essential: the progressive/continuous tense and the passive structure. The continuous/progressive tense is marked by: a relevant be form plus the ing form of the verb. Please note the finaling in the form being.

Now let’s read the following pairs of sentences: 1a) Farmers are harvesting yams. (active sentence) 1b) Yams are being harvested by farmers. (passive sentence) 2a) We were pursuing wrong ends. (active sentence) 2b) Wrong ends were being pursued by us. (passive sentence) 3a) The girls are writing a play. (active sentence) 3b) A play is being written by the girls. (passive sentence) 4a) The engineers are building new structures. (active sentence) 4b) New structures are being built by the engineers. (passive sentence) 5a) The pioneer workers are experiencing grave challenges. (active sentence) 5b) Grave challenges are being experienced by the pioneer workers. (passive sentence) 6a) Members of the committee were discussing the matter. (active sentence) 6b) The matter was being discussed by members of the committee. (passive sentence)

Please note the following segments of the passive sentences: are being; were being; was being; is being. It is mandatory for the word being to be preceded by: is, are, am, was, were. These are known as be-forms.

The word being can also occur in the following contexts: 1) The man is being unrealistic. 2) You are just being childish. 3) The politicians are simply being dishonest.

Even in these contexts, the word being is preceded by a relevant form of be.  Let’s reiterate: The word been is regularly and invariably preceded by have-forms: havebeen; has been; had been. The word being is regularly and invariably preceded by the relevant forms of be: is being; are being; am being; was being; were being.

The two grammatical features of interest are: have/has/had been and is/am/are/were being.