Welcome to 2024. This is our first lesson this new ‘era’ and we shall jointly make a New Year resolution: to improve on the quality of our written and spoken English.
In greeting people this festive season, an immediate test for you revolves around the way you write ‘New Year’ when you refer to it as the global feast. It is a proper noun like Christmas, Eid-el-Kabir and the Valentine’s Day, meaning that the ‘n’ and ‘y’ should normally be capitalised. Remember: Happy New Year, not Happy new year. It is only when you refer to the year in general terms as in first year, last year, previous year, upper year etc. that the letters can be in the lower case. Here are examples of both usages:
The New Year holiday is over.
We have a number of programmes coming up in the new year.
Also in your resolution, settle the enmity (not enemity) between you and books. Return to a great reading culture, reading printed and online books, magazines, newspapers and other related materials as regularly as possible. This will not only expand your knowledge, but it will also sharpen your English in terms of better grammar and enriched vocabulary. One loses a lot by not reading just as the saying that the reader is the leader eternally remains valid.
You are the one speaking through me here too. This is a beautiful resolution to make knowing that many of us care less about the quality of English we unleash on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, X, Telegram and other related platforms. The mindset is that it is all about social communication with no one playing the WAEC marker looking for missing commas or misplaced articles. You are right to an extent if you think so. The fact, however, is that while there can be flexibility, some errors are unpardonable whether in formal or the informal writings.
Besides, a lot of formal communication is also done through the Internet nowadays. So, try as much as possible to respect the rules when online. Watch your choice of words. You can relay your message without being insulting (not insultive!) or vulgar. Don’t be a messenger of lies or libels. New media slang expressions are welcome but not to the detriment of simple and correct English. For one, there was never a time the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk met and decided that, whenever on their platforms, you must write either Osimhen’s or Tinubu’s name starting with a small letter or end a sentence without a full stop, question mark or an exclamation – depending on the context.
Another aspect of our resolution is that we will be more discerning at paragraphing. Good paragraphs are an essential ingredient of a good passage. Whether it is letters, essays, articles, memos or reports, always arrange, discuss and exemplify your ideas or points in clear, well laid out paragraphs. The paragraphs should be distinct yet well connected, especially with connectors such as however, moreover, nevertheless, in the first place, finally etc., all of which must be appropriately used. It is an unpardonable exhibition of linguistic immaturity to write pages upon pages with everything lumped in one paragraph.
Lastly, kindly say after me: In this 2024, I will not use has where have or had should be. I will not overgeneralise when it comes to using indefinite articles (a and an) before words that begin with ‘h’, like hunter and hospital. I will not unduly mix up tenses in my clauses. I will always doublecheck when writing words with tricky spellings – like resurrection, assassinate, genuine, liaison, restaurant, omission, commission, accommodate, traceable, noticeable, practicable, expatiate, privilege, postpone and onomatopoeia. My New Year resolution is to respect the subjunctive mood – though it appears to turn grammar upside down! As a result, this 2024, I shall say ‘It is time I ate my food’ instead of ‘It is time I eat my food’.
