Indefinite strike

SAMPLE 1: “ASUU had on November 5, 2018 began an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to implement three areas in the Memorandum of Action it signed with the union on September 14, 2017.(2019: Outrage Over INEC’s Alarm on ASUU Strike Disrupting Polls, The Sun, Sunday, 30 December, 2018)

Please note that the form had is followed by the form began in the following context: “ASUUhad on November 5, 2018 began an indefinite strike.” Any intelligent reader would note immediately the grammatical relationship between the forms had and began, separated as they are by four words.

2019: APC-led govt has disdain for Kwara ― Atiku/Obi campaign coordinator

The form had is a marker of the perfect tense. Other markers are have and has. The structure of the perfect tense is this: have/has/had plus a past participle: has spoken; has driven; has written; has attended; has bought; have broken; have bitten; have beaten; have encouraged; have smitten; had gone; had drawn; had greeted; had shown; had driven.

The relationship between the forms had and began clearly violates the principle of the perfect tense as sketched and illustrated above. The form began, in its past simple form, ought to be in its past participle form: begun. The distance between the two words, as between any two words for that matter, should not affect the grammatical relationship between them. Writers should not only be knowledgeable in grammar but should be sensitive to the grammatical relationships among the words they employ within and across sentences.

Sample 2: “The reporter spoke to a staff that identified himself as Oge. She believes that it’s too early to tell how good or bad business will be.”(Vehicles, Vehicles Everywhere but no Passengers, The Nation, Sunday, 16 December, 2018)

I draw readers’ attention to the reporter’s use of the word staff occurring in two contexts as follows: “an EEDC staff” and “injured a staff.” Each of the two contexts shows that the word is used to refer to a single person. Here lies the problem. Although it can be used with either a singular or plural verb, it should never be used to refer to a single person. This point has been made repeatedly in this place. We would feel free, today, to rehash the discussion that has previously featured in this place in the conviction that repetition is beneficial to retention.

Please read the following sentences: 1) The staff is the single most important force in any establishment. 2) The staff were drawn from various companies in the metropolis. 3) Our staff is an even mix of both male and female workers. 4) All staff are expected to submit their files before the end of the day. 5) All members of staff are trained from time to time. 6) The company has a highly skilled staff. 7) The staff strength has increased by ten. 8) Half of the staff were laid off.

Can the noun be pluralized by the addition of s? Yes and no. Yes, if we are thinking of staffs of different establishments, but no if we are thinking of the staffof a single establishment.  The following sentences, for example, are deficient: 1) The school’s *staffs are committed to their duties.  2) The company’s *staffs are loyal to the chairman. 3) All the *staffs in this unit are to come for the one-week workshop. 4) The chairman would like to address all *staffs of the company tomorrow. 5) The workshop is meant for all the *staffs of this school. 6) The *staffs in our Department have not received their salaries.

It is grammatically improper to have the word staff in a form carrying a final s as it does in each of those sentences.

However, when the reference is to the workers in several establishments, then it is proper to add –s to staff. Now consider the following sentences: 1) There is a forum where all the staffs of the various companies in the conglomerate meet. 2) Should the staffs of the companies belonging to the government and those belonging to private entrepreneurs be placed under the same salary scheme? 3) Representatives of staffs from private and public companies are meeting next month. 4) This consulting firm trains staffs of both government and private companies. 5) The staffs of the companies in the rubber industry will be interacting very soon.

The word staffs in each of those sentences refers to bodies or groups of workers in two or more establishments.

The word can also be used in the verb form. Let’s consider the following sentences: 1) The Department is staffed by highly intelligent and experienced people. 2) It is a well-staffed school, with about seven mathematics teachers and ten chemistry teachers. 3) The major problem of that firm is that of staffing. 4) The unit is staffed exclusively by medical doctors. 5) Of course the kitchen should be staffed by trained caterers. 6) Do you think hospitals are staffed by only doctors and nurses?

Sample 3: “He lamented that those he referred to as political prostitutes denied him of the opportunity to serve Nigeria in that capacity because of their selfish interest.”(Why we Wanted Lawan as Senate Presidet, by Tinubu, The Nation, 16 december, 2018)

The only reason for bringing this excerpt to your attention is the expression denied… of which occurs in the following context: “political prostitutesdenied himof the opportunity to rule Nigeria.” Requiring special attention is the particle of following the pronounhim directly. It would appear that the usage of the verb deny is confused with that of deprive. It is important to note that although the verb deprive takes the particle of, the verb deny does not.

Actually, some words and expressions commonly confused are: deny, deprive of, prevent from, and forestall.

The verb forestall, let us note, does not take any particle at all. Here are examples of the usage of the verb forestall: 1) The police presence is to forestall any possibility of the wild boys harassing the girls. 2) To forestall the famous scorer penetrating the front easily, two strong defence players should be arranged to tackle him. 3) To forestall an epidemic, we decided to disinfect the house. 4) To forestall a breakdown of law and order, two teams of policemen were put on patrol. 5) To forestall the Governor refusing the application, two delegates were sent ahead to plead with him. 6) The government constituted a panel that would have a dialogue with the representatives of the labour union to forestall a nationwide protest. 7) He put another lawyer on standby to forestall a situation in which no lawyer would be there to represent him. 8) To forestall a fire disaster all bowls containing petrol should be removed far from the house.

The following sentences illustrate the usage of the verb prevent: 1) Children were prevented from going out after 7pm every day. 2) Journalists were preventedfrom taking pictures of the gory sight. 3) Through pressure and blackmail, the president was preventedfrom taking decisions that could jeopardize the electoral process. 4) In Yoruba land, women are prevented from witnessing certain ritual practices. 5) The firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to the adjoining fuel station. 6) It was the presence of the chairman that prevented the complaints from degenerating into public riots.

In each of those sentences, the verb prevents collocates with the particle from.

Like forestall, the verb deny does not take any particle. Some Nigerian users of English have developed the habit of attaching the particle of to the verb, not realizing that it does not take any particle at all. Now read the following sentences: 1) Unfortunately, many departments were denied accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC). 2) People with suspicious appearance were denied access to the hall. 3) Freedom of Information Bill is to guarantee that members of the public are not denied vital information. 4) Having been denied his own share of the profit, he headed for court.  5) No bank has the right to deny anybody access to his money. 6) The lawyer complained that the suspect was sentenced unfairly because he was denied legal representation.

In none of those sentences is the word deny allowed to be followed by the particle of or by any particle for that matter.

Now compare those sentences with the following in which the verb deprive is used: 1) People who are deprived of their rights are free to go to court. 2) It is wrong to deprive children of their meals as a form of punishment. 3) No child should be deprived of education simply because his/her parents are financially handicapped. 4) Children that are deprived of motherly care will grow up to become maladjusted adults. 5) The governor has promised that rural areas would no longer be deprived of the amenities available in the cities. 6) The lady is seeking divorce on the grounds that she has been deprived of love.

At any rate, the particle of should be deleted in the context under review.