Guide, Guard, Sometimes, Sometime

SAMPLE 1: “I want to stand today to render an apology to His Excellency and the entire people of Rivers State for some of our sons who have not guided their utterances—Charlse Beke.” (Opera News, 17 May, 2024) We are interested in the status of the verb guide which occurs in the following context: “some of our sons who have not guided their utterances”. Let us note that you do not guide your utterances; you guard your utterances.

Take another improper use of the verb guide: “Ladies dress decently and guide their bodies jealously and with pride….” If we understand the word guide as meaning providing direction, giving light, showing the way, it would seem unlikely that ladies would “guide [their bodies] jealously”. To guide one’s body would be at best unreasonable and at worst downright absurd.

Evidently, the choice of the word guide is the problem. The word required in the context is guard. The more reasonable thing to say is that ladies guard their bodies jealously. What idiomatic usage permits is: guard jealously and not guide jealously. The speech and writing of some Nigerians betray a lack of understanding of the difference between the words guide and guard. Many writers in the Nigerian context, limited by pronunciation weakness, are unable to distinguish usefully between the forms guide and guard. Now read the following sentences: (1) You can’t drive unless somebody guides you. (2) People should be guided by their conscience. (3) Leaders are expected to guide their followers. (4) Those who commit violent crimes usually refuse to be guided by their conscience. (5) I’m going to the palace; can you guide me?

The word guide has been used as a verb in each of the five sentences above. To guide a person is to show him or her which way to go, the right direction, the best course of action, how to do a thing, etc. This word can also be used as a noun as the following sentences demonstrate: (1) Since I have never lived in this town, I am not a reliable guide here. (2) What you have said can serve as a guide to them. (3) If you want to succeed, make God your daily guide. (4) Unless you have a guide you’ll miss your way.

A guide is a person or thing that guides’ – that gives direction, shows the way, that enlightens. The word also occurs in such contexts as guideline. Whether it occurs alone or as a part of another word, guide always carries the idea of showing direction or giving enlightenment.

There is another noun form you need to learn very carefully: guidance. The following sentences illustrate how the noun is typically used: (1) You must rely on God for your guidance. (2) Before they choose their career, young persons should seek guidance. (3) Children cannot dispense with the guidance provided by their parents. (4) John is studying Guidance and Counselling at the university.

Now guard: The sense of the word guard can be gleaned from the following sentences: (1) Two policemen are detailed to guard the bank. (2) You should guard our interest jealously. (3) God’s angels guard his people.

From the sentences above, we know that the word guard, a verb, means to protect, keep watch over or preserve. This word is clearly different from guide.

The word can also be used as a noun: (1) Two fierce-looking guards are keeping watch over the palace. (2) A new guard has been employed. (3) The guard was dismissed for breaking into the house he was supposed to be guarding.

From the sentences above, we could see that a guard is someone who guards. We should carefully distinguish the word guide (and its various forms) from the word guard (and its various forms).

Do not say: *”The soldier is *guiding the bank”, when you mean: “The soldier is guarding the bank”. Do not say: *”The teacher is to give guardiance to his pupils”, when you mean: “The teacher is to give guidance to his pupils”.

Again the word *guidian does not exist in English. What we have is guardian.

A guardian is someone who takes care of a child or a ward. We also talk of a guardian angel – an angel believed to attend to every individual and protect them. The phrase *guidian angel does not exist in English. There is indeed no newspaper in Nigeria called *The Guidian; what we have is The Guardian.

Furthermore, we talk of guarded enthusiasm by which we mean that the enthusiasm is limited, restricted or restrained. The expression *guided enthusiasm is unlikely in English since it does not make much sense. But it is possible to have both guided movement and guarded movement.

A person may be accused of making an unguarded statement or talk in an unguarded manner. The adjective unguarded in these phrases means not cautious, thoughtful or careful enough. It is not impossible to have unguided statement. But it is unusual or uncommon.

Sample 2: “Osun Defender gathered that an elderly man fell off the commercial motorcycle conveying him on the road sometimes in November last year… (Residents kick as road becomes death trap in Osogbo, Opera News, 5 March, 2022)

We consider the word sometimes which occurs in the phrase: sometimes in November last year. We have had cause to comment repeatedly on the arbitrary nature of part of the English spelling system, noting that a single letter may be the only meaning-bearing signal constituting the difference between two words or between two variants of the same word. Such is the case with the forms sometime and sometimes, the former being the appropriate one in the context in which the writer has used the latter.

As should be obvious, the only visual difference between the two words is the presence of the letter –s in the one, which is absent in the other.

The word sometimes (please note the final –s) means occasionally, on occasions, once in a while: (1) Even the most educated people are sometimes confused as to the difference between the words “sometimes” and “sometime”. (2) I sometimes have this feeling that the end of the world is near. (3) Surprisingly, it sometimes rains in December. (4) Dull and incoherent as he is, he sometimes springs surprises by making brilliant points. (5) In spite of themselves, people in power sometimes show compassion. (6) Climatic changes usually occur gradually, but they sometimes occur suddenly. 7) Even highly educated people sometimes spell words wrongly. 8) Situations can be so bad that you sometimes wish you were not born. 9) Under satanic influence even the most religious people sometimes succumb to horrible temptations. 10) She is generally calm and sedate, but sometimes throws a tantrum.

The word sometime (without a final –s, mind you) means at a time in the past or future about which you are not certain: (1) Sometime in 1962, horrendous violence broke out in Western Nigeria. (2) We can hold the meeting sometime towards the end of the week. (3) I saw him last sometime in January. (4) You can take your leave some time before the Christmas/New Year break so that it can run with the break. (5) The impression the government gave some time in 2008 was that the remaining subsidy on the prices of petroleum products had been removed. (6) There was a prophecy, sometime before you were born, to the effect that you would be a great man. 7) The news of General Abacha’s death was broken to Nigerians sometime in 1997. 8) We can discuss this matter sometime next week. 9) The protest took place sometime last year.

Please note that the word sometime can be rendered as one word or as two words. The important point to note about the difference between sometimes and sometime is that the presence or absence of the letter –s is of great significance. When you mean occasionally or once in a while the letter –s must feature. It is obligatory. It is not a cosmetic element. On the other hand, when you mean that something happened at a time in the past or will happen in the future at a time about which you are not sure, never make the mistake of including the letter –s.

In addition, please read the following sentences:

I will allow you some time to think about it. 2) The chairman was away for some time. 3) He resumed work after some time of break. 4) You have some time to read over your work. 5) She waited for some time to see her husband.

At any rate, the words sometime should replace sometimes in the context under review.

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