adminMorris Mtisi
DOES all the English Language we read in newspapers and magazines and backyard authors respect acknowledged rules of grammar?
What about radio and television presenters? I wish I could say YES for an answer. Why do I ask these sensitive questions! Simple! Because learners of English Language do not only learn from their English Language teacher!
They learn from a host of many other informal (undesignated) “teachers”: teachers of Geography, Mathematics, History and other complementary subjects, English speaking parents (most of them sheer imitators and enthusiasts), socialites so-called, celebrities (also so–called), radio and television presenters, boyfriends and girlfriends.
Everybody speaks some form of English, and those learning the language learn it as it is written or spoken. It’s that simple.
Writers too, make tremendous influence on learners of English Language, most of them school-going children and young adults. Language is largely learnt through acquisition. The learner(s) assimilate or acquire written patterns and styles from all sorts of writers; essayists, columnists, reporters and journalists, commentators and analysts. Everyone is an informal teacher.
The network of influence for an English Language learner is therefore unlimited. With the proliferation of social media and the internet, the “teachers” of English Language are fortunately and unfortunately too many.
The question is, “Do learners learn English Language which is free of common errors from all these communication sources or they acquire the errors as well?”
Clearly such an important question cannot have YES or NO for an answer.
First, the answer is YES. Some writers and speakers are huge models of correct speech and writing. The question is, “How many of them?” But first, what does CORRECT English mean?
Obviously correct means adhering to acknowledged rules of grammar. It also means using the language to convey the intended message and to achieve the desired result.
This is where the problem is. This is where the problem stems. What you say or write therefore depends on several variables. Who are you speaking to / writing to, where are you (context?), what is the purpose and what do you want to achieve?
That is the gist of my writing this week. Beware multimedia English! Weed out errors and colloquialism. Don’t accept every journalistic stereotype and show-business language. I am talking to students worried about writing for the examiner/ for the meticulous marker.
A young physically gifted and angel-faced TV presenter can put together a fabulous Reality Show or Music Extravaganza on radio or television without necessarily respecting a lot of acknowledged rules of grammar. This is the trend today; glamour, bling, swag, sparkle, make-up, looks, dress, speedy oral output; nothing of academic and intellectual adherence to correct semantics and syntax . . . not Ubuntu even!
Detail to grammatical discipline is old fashioned! That is not cool for radio and television presentation. Cool presenters speak “Kinda-like, you know waooh!” And that is supposed to mean something. The speech is musically beautiful. Never mind the acknowledged rules of grammar! It’s the beat, the rhythm, the mellifluence (musicalness) of what comes out of those pretty red-lipped mouths, and sexy Barry White voices, not the grammatical positioning of verbs, adverbs, adjectives and all that nonsense. All that jazz, they call it!
Listen to them . . . carefully. You will not escape the jar in the ears.
Writers too, today, are concocting new blends of journalism-traversing between colourful MIG (Mastery of Incorrect Grammar) and in some cases sheer beautiful illiteracy. The old journalistic erudition of the Geoff Nyarotas, Leo Hatugaris, Willie Musarurwas and a few others, is now all nostalgic history.
Little wonder state President’s spokesperson, Cde George Charamba, not long ago lamented journalists’ inability to thread simple grammatical sentences. None of them that I know responded, a loud silence which seemed to say, “You are right sir.” It was not a business joke at all. Of course if those who can do something about this dearth of able and erudite journalists continue to stand aside and look, public writing is heading straight to the proverbial intensive care unit.
The young boys and girls who bubble with so much bling and glamour and verbal liveliness need serious reorientation and training in the use of proper English, especially weeding out common errors and refraining from writing like novices.
If we continue to sweep shady or sub- standard writing, reporting and broadcasting and behave as if it’s business as usual, we are continuing to be part of the problem of ever-deteriorating standards of communication in English countrywide.
Many of the journalists (Please note, not all of them) hide behind the argument that conversational register is different from journalese. Listen! No journalistic register disregards acknowledged rules of grammar. No radio or TV presenter is immune to common errors in English Language. There is no grammatical impunity in the use English Language.
The days of the Webster Shamus, the Peter Joness, Ben Mauchazas, Musi Kumalos, Thoko Moyos, Tsitsi Veras, Ephraim Chambas, Supa Mandiwanziras and Joseph Madhimbas on radio, are all gone. Perfect old school! Will we ever see those days again? May be . . . only maybe! Meanwhile it’s nostalgia that kills us!
Of course none of the journalists’ or radio-TV presenters’ English is truly and directly educative in its effect of how individual learners learn it in some conjoint deliberation. But their influence cannot be discounted. These informal ‘teachers’ (writers, radio and television presenters) cannot be ignored.
It is important though, to let students know that as they read newspaper reports and columns, magazines and all sorts of novels, (and we do encourage them to read them), they must be aware or conscious of first degree, second degree and third degree errors. Good English Language teachers must identify these common errors and inculcate grammatical correctness in their students.
Examinations despise adulterated English . . . twitterata English, and candidates lose precious marks for incorrect grammar characterized by irregular word-order and discordant semantics and muddled up syntax.
To win the English Learning Battle, learners need teachers who say, “Read widely – perhaps even wildly, but be careful of these common errors.” Then show them the errors and correct them, simplifying and ordering factors of the disposition of the skills desired to be developed; weeding out and purifying the errors.
In this battle, it is the business of a good teacher to eliminate, so far as possible, unworthy features of existing common errors that influence mental habitudes. He or she must make careful and expert selection of these undesirable errors. Weed them out! That’s the message.
STUDY THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSIONS CAREFULLY. Can you identify what is wrong or not very sensible about them?
1. The future leaders of tomorrow.
2. One of the kombi’s wind-screen.
3. We felt so excited.
4. Thank you so much.
5. It happens so often.
6. I am just a teacher like you.
7. I just don’t know.
8. I just don’t understand.
9. He was just waiting for his supervisor.
10. He was put into police cells.
11. He threw the stone to him and injured him.
12. Patients were attended.
13. A loaf of bread.
14. One dozen of eggs.
15. English is a must for you to qualify
16. He said he picked a cigarette stub and started to smoke.
17. She stays alone in a four-roomed house in Sakubva.
18. Feeling extremely tired, I slept at 9 o’clock.
19. The house he bought is hounded, he later discovered.
20. They were playing draft when the teacher arrived.
Expect answers next week. I will also give you more interesting expressions that look correct but in fact are wrong or not very sensible. We speak or write like that every day but have little or no idea what is interestingly wrong or not very sensible. Let’s weed common errors out! DO NOT MISS NEXT WEEK’s EDITION OF THE MANICA POST! That way we strive to win the English Learning Battle. Remember these lessons are strictly for students! Thank you. What do we do to common errors in English? WEED THEM OUT! If teachers and other adults benefit something, mwofukidzwa ngenyasha naa ngekuvhenekerwa ndidzo . . . so be it and please stay blessed!
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