There and Their (i)

Sample 1: “…he has not picked up any local dialect or the national language, English, which are dominantly spoken by indigenes…Been a light sleeper, I only had one opportunity to look through the window before ducking through the back door and escape into the bush…There remains were deposited at the Bishop Shanahan Mortuary at Nsukka…The reality is that the menace of the Fulani Herdsmen is real. In fact it has become a routine exercise in many farming settlements in the northern parts of Nigeria…Fulani herdsmen don’t understand any other language other than their own…Fulani people places premium attention on seniority, rank and class…They also learn to live under harsh weather conditions while tending to their wares…For Alhaji Lukmon Mafindi, chairman of Miyetti Allah in Taraba, rustlers are the biggest treat to herdsmen…Needless to add, Fulani herdsmen will attempt to dominate it environ if given the opportunity…While farmers are skeptical about the idea on the strength that vacant or free land is hard to come by due to expanding farming…He added that education is also key in order to teach host and renters that mutual understanding and social integration will keep us together than isolation and mistrust.”(Grazing Reserves: Lasting Solution or More Problems? The Nation, May 1, 2016)

This text exhibits a number of egregious errors, those that are too elementary to be associated with a discourse of this level seriousness. For example, the reporter cannot differentiate between the words there and their.

Take this: “there remains were deposited.” Anyone with elementary education would immediately identify the error in the use of the word there.

Now let’s illustrate the difference between the words there and their. Please read the following sentences: 1) There are many more people outside the hall than inside. 2) There is no wisdom in that suggestion. 3) There were rumours that the president had another woman in his life. 4) There is no reason to leave so early since the programme is scheduled to commence late in the afternoon. 5) There were many undercover security men snooping around. 6) There was no truth in the story. 7) Neither the chairman nor the secretary was there. 8) I was able to pick some useful information here and there. 9) How soon will you be there? 10) I was there waiting for you for almost three hours.

For the proper usage of the word their, please  read the following sentences: 1) Their house is not far from ours. 2) The ancient Jews and their forefathers are part of the heroes of the Christian faith. 3) Their lawyers are holding a meeting with our own lawyers next week. 4) Sadly, their plan is to destroy their opponents’ business interests. 5) I find it difficult to understand why they could not mind their business. 6) Their directors are planning to reduce the workforce. 7) It is not their duty to tell us how to run our own affairs. 8) Their students are not even half as brilliant as our own. 9) Their house is directly opposite the bank. 10) How can our failure be a reason for their celebration?

The following sentences each contain the two words under consideration: 1) Were you not there when their thugs attacked our chairman? 2) It is their fault that their representatives were not there when the case started. 3) There were a few men at the meeting who claimed to be representing their bosses’ interest. 4) A lady went there, met the children, claimed be their mother’s friend and took some money from them. 5) I was there when our president visited that country and said something positive about their political system.

It should be obvious now that the word their should replace there in the context under review.

Next, let’s examine the grammatical implications of the choice of the form been in the following context: “Been a light sleeper, I only had one opportunity to look through the window…” The appropriate form for this context is not been but being. The only condition for the form been to occur in a context like is the presence of the form having: “Having been in a trance for half an hour, I woke up suddenly…” or “Having been tried and trusted, the manager was elevated…”

This leads us to a discussion of the difference between the forms being and been. What rule is involved here? To understand the nature of the error, we need to sketch and illustrate the two rules that are here confused. First is the rule of the perfect tense situated in the structure of the passive tense. The perfect tense is of the following nature: have/has/had plus a past participle form of the verb. Let’s read the following sentences: 1) David has written the letter. 2) The girl has spoken the truth. 3) The men have broken their promise. 4) The officers have prepared the report. 5) The boy had released the secret before the warning came. 6) The police had arrested the man before the court order was vacated.

Those are examples of the perfect tense outside the passive structure. The same grammatical principle is maintained in the context of the passive structure. In this case, the structure is of the form: have plus been, where been represents the past participle. Now read the following sentences: 1a) The company has bought new cars (active sentence in the perfect tense) 1b) New cars have been bought by the company (passive sentence in the perfect tense). 2a) The police have arrested the criminal. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 2b) The criminal has been arrested by the police. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 3a) That transaction has created many fraudulent loopholes. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 3b) Many fraudulent loopholes have been created by that transaction. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 4a) The central government had constructed numerous roads. (active sentence in the perfect tense.) 4b) Numerous roads had been constructed by the central government. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 5a) Soldiers have invaded the crisis-torn zone (active sentence in the perfect tense) 5b) The crisis-torn zone has been invaded by soldiers. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 6a) The library has stocked over six million books. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 6b) Over six million books have been stocked by the library. (passive sentence in the perfect tense).

The second rule is that of the continuous or progressive tense. The rule is of the nature: be plus the ing form of the verb (ie is going; was singing; were washing; are training; etc). Let’s read the following sentences: 1a) The church is planning a one-week revival programme. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 1b) A one-week revival programme is being planned by the church. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 2a) The people were distributing seditious pamphlets. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 2b) Seditious pamphlets were being distributed by the people. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 3a) The scientists are examining the specimen. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 3b) The specimen is being examined by the scientists. (passive sentence in the progressive tense). 4a) The girl was washing the clothes. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 4b) The clothes were being washed by the girl. (the passive sentence in the progressive tense) 5a) The musician is composing new songs. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 5b) New songs are being composed by the musician. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 6a) The lecturer is grading the scripts. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 6b) The scripts are being graded by the lecturer. (passive sentence in the progressive tense.)

Now let’s have more examples from another effort in this place: structures: 1a) The Boko Haram insurgents have abducted over two hundred school girls. (active sentence) 1b) Over two hundred school girls have been abducted by Boko Haram insurgents. (passive sentence) 2a) Almost all the political parties have conducted primary elections. (active sentence) 2b) Primary elections have been conducted by almost all the political parties. (passive sentence) 3a) Armed robbers have taken over our cities. (active sentence) 3b) Our cities have been taken over by armed robbers. (passive sentence) 4a) Members of the National Conference had recommended fundamental changes in the constitution. (active sentence) 4b) Fundamental changes in the constitution had been recommended by members of the National Conference. (passive sentence). 5a) The police have arrested the criminal elements in the group. (active sentence). 5b) The criminal elements in the group have been arrested by the police. (passive sentence). 6a) The security agencies have addressed the issue of security challenges. (active sentence) 6b) The issue of security challenges has been addressed by the security agencies. (passive sentence)

In each of the six pairs of sentences, both the active and the passive sentences are in the perfect tense: have plus the past participle. In addition, the passive sentence contains the form, been: have been, has been, and had been.

Furthermore, the form been can also occur in the following contexts: 1) You have been a wonderful host. 2) It has been an exciting experience. 3) It has been some time! 4) She has been a little careless. 5) She has been somewhat unlucky in her choice of husband.

At this point we need to make a distinction between the forms been and being. The form being occurs in the context of the continuous or progressive tense within the passive structure. That is, two conditions are absolutely essential: the progressive/continuous tense and the passive structure. The continuous/progressive tense is marked by: a relevant be form plus the ing form of the verb. Please note the final ing in the form being.

Now let’s read the following pairs of sentences: 1a) Farmers are harvesting yams. (active sentence) 1b) Yams are being harvested by farmers. (passive sentence) 2a) We were pursuing wrong ends. (active sentence) 2b) Wrong ends were being pursued by us. (passive sentence) 3a) The girls are writing a play. (active sentence) 3b) A play is being written by the girls. (passive sentence) 4a) The engineers are building new structures. (active sentence) 4b) New structures are being built by the engineers. (passive sentence) 5a) The pioneer workers are experiencing grave challenges. (active sentence) 5b) Grave challenges are being experienced by the pioneer workers. (passive sentence) 6a) Members of the committee were discussing the matter. (active sentence) 6b) The matter was being discussed by members of the committee. (passive sentence)

Please note the following segments of the passive sentences: are being; were being; was being; is being. It is mandatory for the word being to be preceded by: is, are, am, was, were. These are known as be-forms.

The word being can also occur in the following contexts: 1) The man is being unrealistic. 2) You are just being childish. 3) The politicians are simply being dishonest.

Even in these contexts, the word being is preceded by a relevant form of be.  Let’s reiterate: The word been is regularly and invariably preceded by have-forms: have been; has been; had been. The word being is regularly and invariably preceded by the relevant forms of be: is being; are being; am being; was being; were being.

Let’s not forget that our starting-point is the defective structure: having being. From the discussion and illustrations so far, we should know that the structure should now be: having been.

Before leaving this point, it may be expedient to illustrate the usage of the form having: 1) Having been traumatized by the death of her husband, the woman does not seem inclined to re-marry soon. 2) Having been dismissed from service, the man cannot take up any other job from any government establishment. 3) His licence having been withdrawn, the surgeon cannot practise in any part of the world. 4) Having been introduced to literary studies early in his educational career, the scholar has grown to love literature with a passion. 5) Having been born into a royal family, the prince understands perfectly how feudalism works. 6) Having been trained in one of the best universities in the world, the man demonstrates a scholarship that commands respect across the globe.

Now compare those structures with the following: 1) Being a civil servant, he cannot participant in partisan politics. 2) Being a born-again Christian, Mrs Adejoke will not share out of the bribe. 3) Being a fearless soldier, the man single-handedly fought the armed robbers. 4) Being non-natives, we did not bother to apply for the loan. 5) Being the first child of the family, Adesanya spends all his earnings on his siblings. 6) Being a completely private and secret affair, sex is never discussed openly.

The two grammatical features of interest are: have/has/had been and is/am/are/were being.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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