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English: Gross abuse, or just Singlish?
By Carlton Samarajiwa
Some time ago, an advertisement titled Media Vacancies called for a suitable person, preferably an experienced journalist, for a senior post as a Copy Taster or News Rewrite Editor for a daily English language newspaper.

'Tea taster' we had heard of, but not 'copy taster'. However, one thing that the interesting designation seems to reflect is a long overdue realisation of the need to rewrite or copy edit the news items, letters to the editor, regular columns, photo captions and even editorials and a myriad other items that go to make a newspaper.

The errors that appear in our newspapers day after day are not mere slips of the pen or proof-reading lapses; some of them are gross errors resulting from a disregard for the basic rules of grammar and syntax.

R. L. Stevenson is said to have revised the first chapter of his Treasure Island no fewer than thirty-seven times and Gustave Flaubert to have spent days and weeks perfecting the rhythm of a single paragraph. Our English language newspapers owe it to their readers to ensure that they do not contain too many errors, particularly to help those who have learnt English as a second language and the growing numbers of young people now more eager than ever to get a handle on the global language.

While waiting for our turn for a medical appointment recently, we killed time drawing circles round the errors on just the front page of one of that day's newspapers. We had drawn as many as 84 such circles before it was our turn to see the doctor. This is a pastime we have continued on and off during our long mornings in retirement; it also makes us nostalgic for a time when our teachers (God bless their souls) exhorted us to read the English newspapers, particularly their editorials, for they contained models of good English prose.

Front page gaffes

The caption of a front page photograph showing film director Prasanna Withanage being congratulated by actress Nita Fernando, on his arrival at the Katunayake airport, read: 'Purasanda Kaluwara' (Death on a Full Moon Night) won the Gone Free award at the French film festival.

And what does the reader make of this sentence in a Letter to the Editor:

These engineers, doctors pretended to be so wild that their collected meagre amount of money will be used by the ministers instead for the armed forces,

Or of this sentence from a centre page feature?

The image of a patriotic and dedicated service personnel are better served if these incidents happen with impunity, but are swept under the carpet?

One area where errors abound is Subject-Verb agreement where singular subjects carry plural verbs, and vice versa. Such errors stick out like a sore thumb, among excellent ideas, comments and news stories.

The ethnic conflict has been the most significant issue in the election and the people once again has Placed their confidence in this government to find a lasting solution to the menacing problem facing the country. (Feature)

In other words are the voting public to go by what the President says or what the Prime Minister says? (Editorial)

We do not want to see this country divided into eight virtually independent regional states which has almost full autonomy. (News report)

Once those in public life twists the arm of the law enforcement men and ask them to give certain situations the Nelsonian eye, it leads to the certain erosion of legal values. (Column)

Today there is a theory called 'Chandrika Theory'. This theory is that two wrongs makes a right. (Report of Parliamentary debates)

A year or an year?

An year, (a common Sri Lankan English mistake) continues to appear and reappear in our daily newspapers. A newspaper supplement celebrating fifty years of a professional association had this title for one of its articles: An year of progress and commitment.

A provincial news report said, "A 25-year old Tamil youth employed in a tea kiosk at Wattegama for nearly an year was arrested by Wattegama Police.”

A sports feature said, "And when one remembers that Sri Lanka reached such heights after being down in the dumps just over an year ago, Sri Lanka's golden era in international cricket now seems just a memory.”

The indefinite article a, like the definite article the, is another problem for our writers. The oblique line in the following shows its omission.

Now we have the problem of air pollution with thick black smoke hanging over our highways and there have been loud public complaints and/increased number of people suffering from respiratory diseases. (Editorial)

Double prepositions also account for many writing errors. "This is a unique performance of which Sri Lanka can be proud of," said a sports review. "There is no depth to which the state media will not stoop to," said a feature article.

Using double prepositions is bad. Not to use a preposition at all when one needed is equally bad. The slash in these sentences indicates where a preposition is required.

Chandrasekera told Minister Moulana that the party has (sic) not decided on whom to support and added that a decision would be arrived/on Tuesday. (Political Column)

The theme song was itself so touching and its rendering by Nanda Malini was a treat to listen/. (Review of the teledrama 'Gajaman Nona')

Another common error is to use a preposition when it is incorrect to use one. These are some of the many examples of departures from idiomatic English:

Somebody was stressing on the need to have Elders Homes in the provinces as the habit of abandoning ones (sic) elders was no longer peculiar to the metropolis and major cities. (Column)

Others condoned in the nepotism and patronage that denied our country the opportunity of making the best use of its talents. (Column)

(The) Diyawadane Nilame stresses on protection for Buddhism. (Headline)

There should be an elections commission comprising of more than one commissioner so that pressure cannot be brought on just one individual. (Editorial)

The council also decided to appoint a formal board of inquiry comprising of two deans and a senior professor. (News item on university ragging)

The list of such daily abuse seems inexhaustible, but our pointing out these lapses in no way implies a disparagement of the noble work of our English language journalists of today but only a lifelong practice of correcting students' English errors as a livelihood! We have many more in our collection!


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