Daily Grammar - Week 16 | Mahfouz Adedimeji

DAILY GRAMMAR (DG) 14-06-2018

1a. You don’t need many luggages on this trip. (No)

You don’t need much luggage on this trip. (Yes)

1b. The campus sceneries are beautiful to behold. (No)

The campus scenery is beautiful to behold. (Yes)

1c. The man’s hairs have turned grey. (No)

The man’s hair has turned grey. (Yes)

(“Luggage”, “scenery” and “hair” are uncountable nouns. Don’t pluralise them.)

2a. Does Dr Ibrahim has a car? (No)

Does Dr Ibrahim have a car? (Yes)

2b. Dr Ibrahim does has a car! (No)

Dr Ibrahim does have a car! (Yes)

2c. Mrs Elegba also have a car. (No)

Mrs Elegba also has a car. (Yes)

(Three punctuation marks usually end a sentence in English: a full stop, a question mark and an exclamation mark. The full stop, the question mark and the exclamation mark respectively end declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences. Then, when the primary auxiliary verbs, “do” and “has/have” (singular/ plural) precede verbs, the main verbs maintain the plural form while the auxiliary verbs are inflected. When the primarily auxiliary verbs function as main verbs, they indicate agreement through singularity and plurality: does/do; has/have.)

3a. Corrupt leaders should not go scott-free. (No)

Corrupt leaders should not go scotch-free. (No)

Corrupt leaders should not go scot-free. (Yes)

3b. I need a cup of expresso. (No)

I need a cup of espresso. (Yes)

3c. The girls were conversating when their lecturer was delivering her lecture. (No)

The girls were having a conversation when their lecturer was delivering her lecture. (Yes)

The girls were conversing when their lecturer was delivering her lecture. (Yes)

(“Scot-free” is an adverb that means “without suffering any punishment or injury”. It is not spelt otherwise. Then, “espresso” is a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee; it is not spelt “expresso”. Also, “conversation” derives from the verb, “converse”, not “conversate”.)

Did You Know?

There are only two words in English that have all five vowels in alphabetical order: “abstemious” and “facetious”.

Can you use the two words in sentences to show that you know them?

About the Author

Aptly described by the Independent newspaper as “a man of many parts”, Prof. Mahfouz A. Adedimeji is a Fulbright scholar, interdisciplinary researcher, university don, public affairs analyst, communication consultant, peace advocate, interfaith worker and public intellectual. He obtained his academic degrees from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he was a Professor of English (Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics) before his appointment as Vice Chancellor as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Patigi, Nigeria, in February 2021. He started his academic career in 2000 at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, shortly after which he joined the services of his alma mater, the University of Ilorin. A man of eclectic academic background, Prof. Adedimeji was educated in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Markaz Shabaabil Islam, Iwo, Osun State and Markaz Ta’aleemil Araby, Agege, Lagos. He obtained advanced training in Education, Political Science, Communication and Media, Research and Peace Studies at the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) Virtual Institute for Higher Education Pedagogy (VIHEP); the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Virtual Institute for Higher Education in Africa (VIHEAF); Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA; University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. Apart from serving as a cultural ambassador to the US under the auspices of the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York, Prof. Adedimeji had won or co-won the research and conference awards/grants of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the National Research Council, Nigeria, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). He has written extensively for a wide range of newspapers and periodicals including “Unilorin Bulletin”, “Unilorin Watch”, “DeLight”, “National Pilot”, “Daily Independent”, “Daily Newswatch”, “New York Parrot” and “New Telegraph”, among others. A versatile academic and award-winning scholar, Prof. Adedimeji has attended academic conferences and undertaken research in several universities across Nigeria as well as in Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Australia, France and United States of America, among others. His hundreds of academic, Islamic and general/opinion articles have been published across outlets in Nigeria and beyond. He has also facilitated and participated in seminars and workshops both nationally and internationally. A former Head of the Directorate of Corporate Affairs of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Adedimeji was the Director of the Centre for Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, between 2013 and 2017. Apart from serving as Rapporteur-General to the Presidential Committee that organised the 2017 Federal Executive Council’s Retreat on Education in Nigeria, he has consulted for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence and Corps (NSCDC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For years, he was a Coordinator and Facilitator of the Executive Management Course of the Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) and Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Peace, Security and Development”, University of Ilorin. He has also served as a resource person to agencies like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Institute for Security Studies as well as a number of Civil Society Organisations. He is a recipient of several awards and honours including those of the International Chartered World Learned Society, American Biographical Institute, National Congress of Nigerian Students (NACONS), Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ilorin, the Nigerian Army Education Corps, Postgraduate Students Association, UNILORIN, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), UNILORIN, Students’ Union, UNILORIN, and National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS), just to mention a few. A Fellow of bodies like the International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators (FIARSA), Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria, (FICAN), Society for Peace Studies and Practice (fspsp) and World Institute for Peace (FWIP) , Prof. Adedimeji is a former Member of the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and until recently a Member of the Executive Council of the English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN). He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Research in Pragmatics, journal of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN) and ANUJAT, an international multidisciplinary journal of the All Nations University, Koforidua, Ghana. He has about 15 books to his credit as author, co-author, editor and co-editor.