Clergy, Literal, Literary

Sample 1: “The Anglican Communion is long renowned for its stringent disciplinary policies, especially for erring clergies.”(Anglican Communion Church suspend Bishop for sleeping Reverend’s wife, Opera News, 16 December, 2020)

The word that interests us is clergies which occurs in the following context: “especially forclergies.” Both the plural form and its usage are unconventional. The word is not normally pluralized with the final –ies as we have it in this report.

The form clergy is invariably maintained but in addition modified by the definite article (the): the clergy. This expression is usually construed in the plural. It refers to the leadership of religious organisations, a body of religious leaders. It is often used in contrast with the laity, meaning the religious following or members of a congregation. However when we need singular and plural forms, we opt for: clergyman/clergywoman and clergymen/clergywomen.

Now read the following sentences:

1) The problem of corruption has to be tackled by both the clergy and the laity.

2) The clergy are reluctant to admit women into their fold.

3) You can only join the clergy by divine calling and training.

4) The strength and quality of the laity are determined by the strength and quality of the clergy.

5) The laity should be guided by the clergy in matters of scriptural interpretation.

6) In terms of godliness and holiness, there should be no difference between the clergy and the laity.

7) It is the attitude and conduct of the clergy that will determine whether they will be respected by the laity.

8) Membership of the clergy seems to be reducing gradually.

9) The clergy command respect all over the world.

10) Was there any time in religious history when there was no difference between the clergy and the laity?

11) My grandfather was a highly respected clergyman.

12) The idea of clergywomen is a recent phenomenon in Christendom.

13) A clergyman or a clergywoman is an ordinary human being with a special spiritual experience and duty.

14) It is advisable for a woman to become a clergywoman only after she has stopped bearing children.

15) Must a prospective clergyman or clergywoman take a vow of celibacy?

In the light of this discussion, the word clergies should be changed to the word clergymen in the context under review.

Sample 2: “We literarily had to beg for us to snap pictures with her. I was even shy to tell my friends we were coming from her birthday where we were treated like nobody that we were.”(I will never forget how Omotola humiliated me at her 40th birthday party…Opera News Hub, 18 May, 2020)

Let’s pay attention to the adverb literarily which occurs in the following context: “We literarily had to beg for us to snap pictures with her.” This word makes absolutely no sense in this context because the reference has nothing to do with literature, and the word is morphologically and semantically related to literature.

The adjective literary and the adverb literarily are related to the noun literature. If that is the case, as we are sure it is, it would mean that the reporter intends his statement to be taken in the sense in which words are taken in literature—figuratively, metaphorically. But that would be the exact opposite of what the writer intends.

In the light of this confusion, we need to clarify the usage and meanings of the following words: literal, literally; literary, literarily.

Please read the following sentences:

1) When the Ifa priest said the man was blind, he did not mean it in its literal sense.

2) The word ‘die’ is not to be taken in its literal sense in the sentence, ‘The man dies in every man who is silent in the face of tyranny.’

3) In its literal sense, light is about physical illumination, something that prevents people from stumbling.

Those sentences illustrate the way the adjective literal is typically used. The word literal is the opposite of metaphorical or figurative. The literal sense of a word is its ordinary sense, the sense in which it is commonly used, without additional ‘colour’ or contextually acquired meaning. For example, if I say, ‘The boy picked up some stones and began to pelt me,’ I have used the word stone in its ordinary or literal or common sense. On the other hand, if I say, ‘The man has a heart of stone’, I have used the word stone not in its ordinary sense but in a figurative or metaphorical sense. The adjective literal invariably carries a sense of contrast whether in an explicit or implicit way with the idea of the figurative or metaphorical sense.

The adverb form of literal is literally. Please read the following sentences:

1) During the June 12 protests, all sectors of the Nigerian life literally came to a standstill.

2) The mountain involved in a volcano will be found to be boiling literally at the time the volcano occurs.

3) The congregation was made up of old men and women and the heads that I saw from the pulpit were literally white.

4) Morally bankrupt, his life almost literally stinks as much as would a septic tank.

5) The news literally broke his heart as he collapsed and died instantly.

6) Wherever he went and whatever he did, his wife was always literally behind him.

7) High blood pressure literally means that the blood is under an unusual pressure.

8) During the second half, their players were literally being tossed like kids.

9) By the age of over one hundred, an adult literally becomes a baby attitudinally.

10) In heaven, will the members of every family literally re-unite?

Whenever the context may tempt the reader to interpret a pivotal word in its figurative or metaphorical sense, the writer feels under obligation to qualify or define the word with the adjective literal or its adverb literally. For example, the compound word empty-headed is used in its figurative sense, rarely in its literal sense. The common interpretation is likely to be applied to the idea of head and empty in the sentence, ‘His head is almost literally empty.’ To guide the reader, we have brought in the adverb literally. The use of the adverb literally can be explained in this way in the ten sentences above.

Now read the following sentences:

1) What are the literary merits of that writing?

2) Some literary writers are also scientists.

3) That is the man who taught me literary appreciation.

4) Must literary style always be colourful or flowery?

5) You have not properly mastered literary language.

6) Some newspapers have sections for literary criticism.

The adjective literary is related to the nouns literature and literacy. We use the adjective for writing in general and literature in particular. Literary arts refers to poetry, drama and prose—those works of art we have in mind when literature is mentioned. In other words, literarymerits are qualities or values associated with literature; literary writers write poems, plays and novels; literaryappreciation is an effort at understanding and evaluating literature; literary language refers to the language associated with literature.

What we have said about the adjective literary is also applicable to the adverb literarily. You could say: ‘The writing is literarily deficient’, by which is meant that the writing does not possess some good qualities of literature.

Do not say: *He was literarily soaked in oil. Rather say: He was literally soaked in oil. Do not say: *The whole town literarily went up in smoke. You should say: The whole town literally went up in smoke. Do not say: *What is the literary meaning of the word? You should say: What is the literal meaning of the word?

Other expressions that may interest readers are: literaltranslation; literary language; literary scholars; literarylanguage. At any rate, let the word literally replace literarily in the context under review.

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