Taught, Thought, Access, Assess

Sample 1: “He also said he loves the people of the South East so much that many taught his Kwankwansiyaya movement is the Hausa man’s version of ‘Okonkwo and Son’, simply because the Hausa man cannot pronounce ‘Okonkwo and Sons’, so he turned it to Kwankwaso.” (Igbo still at the bottom of national politics…Opera News, 11 July, 2022)

Let’s focus attention on the word taught which occurs in the following context: “many taught his kwankwansiyaya movement is the Hausa man’s version of ‘Okonkwo and Sons.’” It should be obvious to educated readers that the form taught has been selected in confusion with thought. The form taught, let us note, is the past and past participle form of teach.

Please read the following sentences: 1) Each important subject was taught by three different teachers in my former secondary school. 2) Traditionally, Mathematics was taught by severe, cane-wielding, no-nonsense teachers. 3) The sciences can be taught effectively only in the context of functional and well-equipped laboratories. 4) Experience has taught me not to trust every human being that comes my way. 5) A much younger person taught me how to drive. 6) That experience taught me an important lesson in humility. 7) The language students were taught how to use the Language Laboratory. 8) Children should be taught to be courteous and respectful. 9) Beginners are taught by highly experienced teachers. 10) We were taught by highly competent teachers.

We come to the form thought. This is the past and past participle of the verb think. The form thought can also be used as a noun. Now read the following sentences: 1) The disciples thought they saw a ghost when Jesus was walking on water. 2) Have you ever thought about how the ancients lived their lives without elementary technology? 3) Anyone who has thought deeply about the mysteries of life will come to the inevitable conclusion: there is God. 4) I have not thought deeply enough about those issues. 5) Philosophers have thought and written extensively about the issues related to life after death. 6) She has never thought of divorcing her husband in spite of the serial abuses. 7) As a bachelor, I had thought marriage was easy and cheap. 8) The thieves ran into trouble because they thought the night guards had slept off. 9) I did not take an umbrella with me because I thought the rains had gone. 10) He had thought his candidate would win the election.   

As noted earlier, the form thought can also be used as a noun. In addition, when a morpheme such as -less or -ful is added to it, it can be used as an adjective. Now read the following sentences: 1) It is the business of scholars to engage in deep thought and scientific analysis. 2) Please let me know your thoughts on the recent developments. 3) Thoughts must be matched with positive actions. 4) Productive thoughts and ideas are often obtained from books. 5) God has revealed His thoughts to us through the Holy Bible. 6) The essay is full of awkward, ill-digested thoughts and ideas. 7) These are strange and backward thoughts that bear no relevance to national development. 8) The first prize will go to the essay that demonstrates fresh and innovative thoughts. 9) The president will take no major decision until he has harvested the thoughts of members of his kitchen cabinet. 10) The introductory thoughts seem to contradict those in the concluding part. 11) Those words do not reflect deep and clear thoughts. 12) My thoughts are not different from those I have expressed in the memorandum. 13) I appreciate that short but thoughtful response. 14) Nation-building requires disciplined and thoughtful plan. 15) I have not met a more thoughtful and modest leader. 16) A thoughtless and worthless caption is followed by a more worthless report. 17) That was a thoughtless answer given in the heat of pressure and anger.

From the foregoing, it should be obvious that thought should replace taught in the context under review.

Sample 2: “The right thing to do would be to access each person based on what they have done, their careers so far, the lives they have touched.” (Check the reply MKO Abiola’s daughter gave…Opera News, 11 July, 2022)

The word of interest is access which occurs in the following context: “The right thing to do would be to access each person based on…” The context does indicate that the word (access) means to evaluate, to judge, to review. But that is not the meaning of access.

 The reporter has confused the word assess with access, a function of poor pronunciation and poor spelling. We have repeatedly advised readers to be attentive to slight differences in pronunciation and spelling that communicate lexical and semantic differences. In English, many times it does not require more than the presence or absence of a single letter in this or that position for a lexical item to transform into another word. Anyone who is not sensitive to these instances of lexical morphing is still a stranger to the English language.

Yes, there is a major difference between access and assess, significant enough to make them two words.

Capable of being used as a noun and a verb, the word access means having opportunity or right to use a thing, acquire a thing, enter a place, etc.: (1) The business is not expanding because the owner does not have access to sufficient funds. (2) In spite of the media hype, the masses have no access to the low-cost houses. (3) The only access to the village is through a bumpy, dusty road. (4) Close to half a century of its existence, many people around the world still have no access to the email. (5) For more than two weeks now, I have not been able to access my mail. (6) Even Ministers do not have direct access to the president. (7) Three years after the divorce, the man has no access to his children. (8) Only by special permission can the room be accessed through that door. (9) For the country to make great strides in agriculture, farmers must have access to fertilizers and expansive land. (10) The man’s situation is worsened by the fact that he has no access to his lawyer.

Now the word assess is about evaluating, examining, trying to understand a situation, etc. It is a verb, whose noun form is assessment: (1) Experts are assessing the effects of the erosion on the environment. (2) The committee members will soon begin to assess the facts before them. (3) She says she is in the process of assessing how much love the man has for her. (4) Before the loans can be released, representatives of the bank will need to assess your production capability. (5) The purpose of our visit is to assess your facilities comparing them with the claims you make in the documents. (6) You cannot effectively tackle your political enemies without first assessing their strengths and weaknesses. (7) Before the Doctor can undertake to treat him, he must assess the extent of the damage done by the quack Doctor. (8) It is the duty of the Vehicle Inspection Officers to assess the road-worthiness of all vehicles. (9) An engineer from the Federal Ministry of Works is here to assess the quality and extent of work done so far. (10) Each applicant must be assessed objectively and impartially. 11) My assessment of him is that he is an intelligent but pompous man. 12) If journalists were not biased in their assessment, they would know that this man is unfit to rule a state. 13) I don’t believe the assessment of the new product was thorough enough.

At any rate, the verb assess should replace access in the context under examination.

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