Someone was telling me to promote our local languages rather than
the English language in one of the comments on my previous post. Well, there is
nothing bad promoting what you have but the questions are: are our languages
mutually intelligible outside Nigeria? What is our official language? What is
the language of commerce, banking, politics and education in Nigeria? What
happens to you if you fail English in WAEC or NECO? The right answers to these
questions will make you appreciate the study of English. Anyway, that's bygone;
let's go to the business of the day.
Today, I will be discussing with you another grammatical blunders
that have beaten so many persons black and blue. These blunders are:
1. The girl is INSULTIVE.
2.I will pay you INSTALLMENTALLY/ I will make an
INSTALLMENTAL payment.
3. I live in Port Harcourt; Rumuokoro to be PRECISED.
4. The girl has been DISVIRGINED.
Now let's see why the sentences above are ungrammatical.
1. The girl is INSULTIVE.
I don't agree the English language is simple, but learners of the
language have a way of making it look simple in order to suit their
inadequacies.
Please check your dictionary if you will find the word
'insultive.'
The right thing to say is, 'The girl is insulting.'
2.I will pay you INSTALLMENTALLY/ I will make an
INSTALLMENTAL payment.
Are you surprised to know that sentence two is wrong? It is
normal. Neither 'installmentally' nor 'installmental' is in the English
dictionary, maybe learners of the language want it to be included in new
editions. What you will find in the dictionary is 'installment.'
Therefore, the correct sentence is:
I will pay by installment.
Payment by installment is payment by parts at different times.
3. I live in Port Harcourt, Rumuokoro to be PRECISED.
'Precise' in this context is functioning as an adjective and it
means to be exact, hence does not require the suffix 'd.' Perhaps you were
confused by the verb 'be' that precedes it.
In Standard English, 'precise' only functions as an adjective (its
adverbial form is 'precisely')but it is sometimes used as a verb by non native
speakers or in jargons.
Therefore, sentence three is wrong. The correct form of the
sentence is:
I live in Port
Harcourt; Rumuokoro to be PRECISE.
4. The girl has been DISVIRGINED.
There is no word like 'disvirgin' but 'deflower.'
Therefore, the correct sentence should be:
The girl has been DEFLOWERED.