English Language Wikipedia

 • I can’t calculate the sum with my head, can you help me out?  The above sentence is marred by the use of ‘with'. When rewritten, we have :   I can’t calculate the sum in my head, can you help me out? 

 • To fight poverty, you need a secured job.  The above sentence is marred by the use of 'secured'. Both the base form of the verb and the adjective are spelt ‘secure'. Therefore, when corrected, we have :       To fight poverty, you need a secure job.   

 • We live at the outskirts of Lagos.  The noun ‘outskirts’ ( the parts of a city or town that are furthest from the centre) takes the preposition ‘on'. So when rewritten, we have :  • We live on the outskirts of Lagos. Below are some examples of words that also take the preposition ‘on' : on the premises, on the team, on the panel, on the committee, on a whim, etc. 

 • The minute of meeting was written by the secretary.   The above sentence is marred by the use of ‘minute' which is supposed to be in the plural form ‘minutes' ( a summary or record of what is being said or discussed at a formal meeting). Therefore, when rewritten we have :   The minutes of meeting were written by the secretary.   Nouns in this category are called plural invariable nouns. They are treated as plural nouns regardless of their morphology, adding a plural marker to any of these nouns will render them non-standard, even though some of them have, as part of their spelling, the letter ‘s'. These nouns also take plural forms of verbs.  Examples of plural invariable nouns include: cattle, vermin, damages, premises, police, outskirts, spirits, poultry, thanks, people, elite, livestock, etc. • My father has many cattles. ( non-standard)  My father has many cattle. ( standard) • The police is here to save us. (non-standard)  The p...

 • We have our class on daily basis.  Many nouns with ‘is' usually form their plural adding ‘es' while the ‘is' is taken away.  So we have the singular and plural of the following nouns as : *crisis ___ crises *analysis_____ analyses *thesis ___ theses, etc  Since ‘basis' used in the sentence above is in its singular form, therefore we add the indefinite article ‘a'. So when rewritten, we have : • We have our class on a daily basis. 

 • We couldn’t use the hall for lectures as it was a shamble. When a place looks untidy or a situation appears confusing, then one of the words that define this is ‘shambles’. ‘Shambles' is a noun and should be treated as a singular noun, hence the need to be preceded by the indefinite article ‘a'. Meanwhile, there exists ‘shamble' which is a verb.  When rewritten, the above sentence will be:  We couldn’t use the hall for lectures as it was a shambles.   The peace talk between the two warring factions was a complete shambles.    Also in this category are: crossroads, summons, etc.  

 • Gomez has really added weight, you need to see him. The word ‘weight' as used in the sentence above is a noun which means ‘how heavy somebody or something is’. In this sense, the verb to use isn’t ‘added’,  so when rewritten, we say:  • Gomez has really gained weight, you need to see him. Meanwhile, ‘weight’ can take ‘add' when it means importance or influence. E.g.  The presence of your professor will add weight to your presentation.   Campaign Against Social Injustice is beginning to add weight to the call against child molestation.  Take note of the following:  put on weight  carry weight  lose weight   watch your weight  #      add weight   lend weight to, etc 

 Have you got any question for me?  'Any' is usually used with uncountable nouns and plural nouns in negative sentences and questions. It has the same meaning as a/an in this sense.  Therefore, the above sentence will be rewritten as:  Have you got a question for me?  The following are also correct:   Have you got any questions for me?   Are there questions you want to ask me?   I don’t have any questions for you.

 • Have you got any question for me?  'Any' is usually used with uncountable nouns and plural nouns in negative sentences and questions. It has the same meaning as a/an in this sense.  Therefore, the above sentence will be rewritten as:  Have you got a question for me?  The following are also correct:   Have you got any questions for me?   Are there questions you want to ask me?   I don’t have any questions for you.

 • I am a graduate of English.  When we use ‘graduate' as either a noun or verb, it  takes the preposition ‘in’ when used with courses studied in higher institutions. It however takes ‘of’ or ‘from' when used with names of institutions. These can be seen in the examples below:  • I am a graduate in English.  • I graduated in English.  • I am a graduate of LASU. • I graduated from LASU. 

 • I know you don’t like milk, I don’t like it too. When talking about negative ideas, using two different clauses as above, the standard words we use are ‘not…either’.  Therefore, we say :  I know you don’t like milk, I don’t like it either.