Of transportation through vehicles and motorcycles, violation on Oct 29 pools!
This notoriously humorous lamentation, scripted on the back of a bajaj taxi operating in Tegeta, Dae es Salaam, intrigued us so much that, at first glance, we failed to notice the grammatical goof. The twice written singular verb is missing the essential “s”—which would make it to correctly read ATTRACTS (not attract) girls/police. Trust signwriters! PHOTO | AMS
Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet of Friday, March 13 has a story on Page 2 entitled, ‘PMO-RALG explains Karatu road projects during PM visit,’ in which the scribbler writes in the intro: “The government has announced plans to construct a 10.8km road AT Mang’ola Village in Karatu…to stimulate economic activities and improve transportation for FARMERS and RESIDENTS in the area.
Hello! The 10.8km road is IN (not at) Mang’ola Village. Meanwhile, the reader will be forgiven for asking: Aren’t farmers also residents in the said area? The obvious answer is: yes, they are.
The scribbler could redeem the quality of his message by going for either of two options. One, eliminate the word “farmers” or two, provide a qualifier for the word “residents.”
So, we’d have this sentence, in part: “…stimulate economic activities and improve transportation for RESIDENTS in the area.”
Or, “…stimulate economic activities and improve transportation for FARMERS and OTHER residents in the area.”
In Para 6, the scribbler writes: “Improved infrastructure will also enable residents to access essential social services including healthcare and education while facilitating daily transport THROUGH vehicles and MOTORCYLES.”
What does “transport ‘through’ vehicles mean?” We aver our colleague meant to say “transport BY vehicles…” And, contrary to what the scribbler is suggesting, a motorcycle is also vehicle.
Page 3 of the huge broadsheet has this other story with the headline, ‘October 29 VIOLATIONS, rule of law: CJ confers with UN special envoy.’ Oops! We suspect the editor who penned the headline meant to write, “October 29 VIOLENCE (not violations).
Indeed, the scribbler proceeds to say in Para 2: “The meeting underscores the UN’s ongoing engagement with Tanzania to evaluate the steps taken…to maintain stability and national cohesion following the VIOLENCE and loss of lives surrounding the POOLS of late October last year.” Wait a minute! In late October last year, what we held in Bongo were POLLS (not pools). It’s another word for elections.
We now have in our hands a copy of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet of Saturday, March 14, whose Page 2 is carrying a story entitled, ‘Dar commits to advancing (sic!) human rights review’. Well, how about saying, ‘Dar commits to ADVANCE human rights review’?
On the same page, there’s another story with the headline, ‘Communication regulatory body warns against online scams.’
Therein, the scribbler writes towards the end of his story: “Overall, fraud cases have dropped sharply since September 2023…However, authorities warned that fraudsters remain active, with Rukwa and Morogoro regions CONTINUE to report the highest number of fraud cases.”
Hello! What is, “…with Rukwa and Morogoro regions CONTINUE to report…?” The verb we’ve put in caps violates grammar. Here’s our rewrite: “…with Rukwa and Morogoro regions CONTINUING to report the highest number…”
Page 16 is carrying a feature story on the legendary Congolese music maestro, Verckys, and the headline reads, ‘Pillar of golden age of rhumba music.’ The scribbler summarises Verckys’ bio as follows: “From Luambo Luanzo Makiadi ‘Franco’ to Kabasele Yampanya ‘Pepe Kalle,’ including Trio Madjesi and Zaiko Langa, Verckys worked with all the big names in rhumba, (sic!) breathed his last on October 13, 2022 AGED 78 YEARS.”
We notice two issues here. One, there’s a missing full stop after the word “rhumba,” which would’ve marked the end of the sentence that commenced with, “From Luambo…”
A new sentence would’ve then started thus: “He breathed his last on…”
Besides the punctuation goof, we note that the scribbler committed a tautological crime by saying “aged 78 years,” instead of simply saying “aged 78.” Oh, yes, there’s no way a reader would’ve assumed Verckys died with his age standing at 78 days/weeks/months, could he?
By the way, it would’ve also been correct to say “he breathed his last at 78.”
