Building from scratch…

SAMPLE 1: “In this interview Yetunde Oladeinde, the octogenarian goes down memory lane recalling how she started from the scratch, her experience with kidnappers in 2013 and more.”(Yinka Obaleye, The Nation, 10 June, 2018)

I draw readers’ attention to the expression, ‘from the scratch.’ We note in particular the definite article (the) modifying the noun scratch.  This article is intrusive. The expression ‘from scratch’ is an idiom, and like all idioms, the words making it up and its syntax are sacrosanct. Idioms are not subject to lexical or syntactic variation. At any rate, the idiom that exists in the English lexicon is ‘from scratch’ and not ‘from the scratch.’

Please read the following sentences: 1) By the time she assumed office as Managing Director, the business had virtually collapsed, and she had to rebuild it from scratch. 2) Building a school from scratch is not a light job. 3) When I started this hospital, I had nothing to rely on; I had to build it from scratch. 4) The president claimed that the economy of the nation was in a shambles when he took over, and he had to build it from scratch. 5) It is sometimes easier to build an organization from scratch than to rejuvenate a dying one. 6) The president made a false and immodest claim when he said that he built our club from scratch.

Sample 2: “Key findings from Nigeria’s latest Demographic and Health Survey showed that respiratory problems and rapid breathing contributes more to infant mortality in the country…Investigations revealed that these deficiencies were as a result of weak regulatory framework to sanction erring industries. There are clear and flagrant daily abuse of the environmental laws across the country…”(Ogijo’s Deadly Foundries, The Nation, 10 June, 2018)

I draw readers’ attention to the verb (are) which occurs in the following context: “There are clear and flagrant daily abuse of the environmental laws across the country.” This is a plural verb-form, sandwiched between the words there and clear. We have a duty to find out the noun to which the plural verb (are) is related in concord. That noun, when we find it, has to be in the plural form if it is to fulfil the requirement of concord. The only noun that is logically and grammatically related to the verb-slot is abuse. Is the noun abuse in its plural form? The answer is no. Any pupil in the elementary class should know that. The noun is clearly in its singular form. Could the reporter have thought that the distant noun, laws, being a plural noun, is the word that is logically related to the verb slot for the purpose of concord? That word has nothing to do with concord as far as this sentence is concerned. At any rate, the verb should be changed to its singular form: is.

Next, I draw your attention to the verb contributes which occurs in the following context: “respiratory problems and rapid breathing contributes more to infant mortality.” Please note the inflection of that verb for the third person singular number as indicated by the final –s. The impression this inflection (that is, the final s) gives is that the subject of that verb is singular. But is the subject really singular? Not at all. The subject is a conjoined item: “respiratory problems and rapid breathing.” Even without the addition of “rapid breathing”, the item “respiratory problems” alone is plural enough to require a plural (and not a singular) verb-form. In other words, the inflection of the verb contributes fails to be consistent grammatically with the plural form of the subject noun phrase. In consequence, we have to drop the final –s in the verb contributes.

At this point, it may be necessary to revise the principles of concord. Consider the following sentences: 1) I go to school every day. 2) We go to school every day. 3) They go to school every day. 4) You go to school every day. 5) He/She goes to school every day.

In each of those five sentences, the verb to go is in its present simple form. There is a correlation between the form of the subject and the form of the verb. In the first sentence, the subject is in its first person singular form. The assumption here is that there is a speaker who uses the pronoun I. The speaker is regarded as the first person. Since the speaker is only one person, the pronoun I is said to be a singular one. A first person singular pronoun I takes the form go when the tense is present simple.

The subject in sentence (2) is a first person plural pronoun, we. Since it is assumed that two or more persons are speaking, we say that the pronoun is in the plural form. As it is with the pronoun I, the verb-form that goes with this pronoun is go when the verb is in its everyday form.

In sentence (3), the pronoun they, which is the subject, is in the plural form. Besides, it is the third person form. What do we mean by the third person? A first person—say I—speaks to a person directly about another person. That other person is a third person. In our case, the third person is plural—they. The verb-form that goes with the third person plural subject is go.

The subject of sentence (4) is you, a word that can either be singular or plural. In English, it is only the context that shows whether the pronoun you is intended as singular or plural as the following sentences illustrate: (6)(a) You are a fool. (6)(b) You are fools. In those two sentences, it is the complement that indicates the number. In (a), you is singular; in (b), it is plural.

Now we come back to sentence (4). Whenever the pronoun you occurs, whether as singular or plural, the verb-form it takes is go. You is a second person. A first person—I—speaks to a second person—you—about a third person.

Sentence (5) has he (or she) as its subject. This form is a singular one and it is a third person. A first person—I—speaks to a second person—you—about a third person—he. The third person singular number—represented as he—invariably takes the verb-form goes. Of all the persons and numbers we have considered so far, it is only the third person singular number—he—that takes the verb-form that ends in s or es as the case may be. All other persons and numbers take the verb go—without the s or es. This distinction is very crucial and a failure to understand it has resulted in many users writing ungrammatical sentences. The distinction is a very clear one and you should make effort to grasp this elementary detail before you go on.

The other point we need to make is that the verb go has been used only as an illustration to avoid confusion. Any other verb in English behaves in exactly the same way as go, relative to the persons and numbers discussed so far.

The following sentences illustrate the point: 7) Hespeaks good English. 8) He writes a lot. 9) Sheloves the man. 10) He deceives most people. 11) It wags its tail. 12) He drives dangerously. 13) She possesses a balanced mind. 14) She sings beautifully. 15) She works round the clock. 16) It surprises me—this sudden change of mind. 17) Hecomes from a wealthy family.

Unlike the third person singular number (he, she, it), all other persons and numbers take the form of the verb without the s or es: 18) They speak good English. 19) We love each other. 20) Youwrite a lot. 21) I work round the clock. 22) They possess balanced minds. 23) You drive dangerously. 24) We sing beautifully. 25) Theysurprise us. 26) You comefrom a wealthy family. 27) They deceive their friends. 28) They wag their tails.