Let me draw readers’ attention to the possessive form its which occurs in the following context: “urged the private investors to scale up its collection.” The possessive adjective (its) is clearly in its singular form. That being the case, we should be interested in identifying the singular noun to which it relates. The only noun to which the possessive form is related is investors, a noun that is clearly plural. Could it have been that the writer meant private sector when he actually wrote private investors, thus confusing his intention with the reality of what was on paper? If the nominal item under reference were private sector, we would have no problem accepting the possessive form, its. However, in view of the existence of the plural noun form (private investors) in the context under consideration, we are under obligation to change the possessive adjective to its plural form: their.
Sample 2: “While the church leadership would not be against the admonition of the church to preach against corruption among her membership, the manner, timing, avenue and target audience is highly suspicious.” (Church Leaders Fault Osinbajo on Corruption Claim, The Punch, Sunday, 25 June, 2017)
Let’s note the singular verb-form (is) which occurs in the second part of the structure in the excerpt: “the manner, timing, avenue and target audience is highly suspicious.”
The question we ask next is: What is the nominal entity whose singular form has been influential in the reporter’s choice of the singular form of the verb? To answer this question, it is important to note that the verb-form (is) comes at the end of a list of noun items: “the manner, timing, avenue and target audience.” There are four such noun items. Under what curious logic and warped grammatical permutation do four noun items qualify as a singular form inducing the choice of a singular verb-form? But that is the grammatical aberration available in the text under review. Even a boy in an elementary class should have no difficulty assigning a plural verb-form to the context.
At any rate the verb (is) should be changed to its plural form: are.
Sample 3: “He craves a fresh lease of life to enable him turn a new life.”(Lagos Transport Magnate Paid me to Avoid Kidnap, Says Evans, The Nation, June 18, 2017)
We note the expression, “turn a new leave.” I don’t think we should have any problem with the meaning of this expression—to change for the better in terms of attitude and moral life. There is, however, a slight problem with the form of the expression that takes something away from its idiomatic character. A particle is missing: over. The idiomatic expression is: “turn over a new leaf.”
Idioms are known for their invariable and unchangeable collocations. They are stretches of language with sacrosanct, inflexible syntactic and lexical composition. Parts of their lexical and syntactic compositions are particles, which are context-sensitive and in part responsible for the individual identities of idioms.
In other words, the particle over is an integral part of the idiom. Without it, the idiom is incomplete.
Sample 4: “The modern pattern of feminism has succeeded in limiting women and denying them of the heights they could reach.” (Serial Divorce: Like Ooni, Like Wuraola, The Sun, September 3, 2017)
Let’s draw attention to the expression, “denying them of…” We note in particular the particle of in the structure. It has been noted repeatedly in this place that idioms are stretches of language whose syntactic structure and lexical composition are not amenable to any form of variation: the ordering of words and the words themselves are inflexible. Any attempt to vary them will result in distortions of varying degrees of stylistic and discoursive seriousness.
The particle of, let us note, does not belong to the verb deny. 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.
The verb that takes the particle of is deprive.
Now read the following sentences: 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.
In each of those sentences, the verb deprive has been allowed to collocate with the particle of.
Now read the following sentences: 1) Children were prevented from going out after 7pm every day. 2) Journalists were prevented from taking pictures of the gory sight. 3) Through pressure and blackmail, the president was prevented from 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.
and then