By Ruth Oji

IN English language, there are tons of words and phrases that make up sentence structures. Some expressions are considered troublesome in nature, hence the need to analyse them and see ways to use more appropriate forms in our communication. What are these troublesome words and phrases?

First on the list is ‘disinterested/uninterested’. Some people use both words interchangeably, but this oughtn’t be the case. ‘Disinterested’ means not influenced by considerations of personal advantage, not biased; for example, ‘A lawyer is under an obligation to give disinterested advice’. 

In this sense, the word means ‘impartial’, ‘objective’ or ‘detached’. On the other hand, ‘uninterested’ means ‘not interested in or concerned about something or someone’. It shows a high level of indifference and a lack of concern in a thing or in what a person does. When you use ‘disinterested, chances are that people may not understand you, so do well to use it in contexts where your usage will be appreciated.

Second are the words ‘hopefully/hopeful’. Is there a difference between the two words? Sure, there is. When someone says that they are hopeful, it means that they are full of hope. They use the word as an adjective to describe themselves. So, they can say a thing like ‘I am hopeful that I will pass the examination.’ But the word ‘hopefully’ is an adverb that indicates the way a person does a thing. It means in a hopeful manner’. 

For example, one can say, ‘Henry and Richard looked hopefully to their parents to get them the new sneakers’. This means that they looked to their parents in a hopeful manner, expecting the answer to their request to be ‘yes’. Because the usage might be unclear or suggest negative thinking, it is best to avoid using ‘hopefully’ if the meaning would be misconstrued, as in the following example: ‘Hopefully, your business will bounce back.’

A third word considered troublesome is ‘enormity’. This is avowedly common in usage with some men and women of the press who refer to things in terms of their size or significance. Note, however, that this word means ‘a grave crime’, ‘seriousness’, ‘the extent of something adjudged as bad or viewed with contempt’, ‘monstrous wickedness’, ‘horror’, etc. A sentence example of the right usage would be ‘Tomiwa’s sentence was rightly deserved considering the enormity of his offence.’ ‘The enormity and brazenness of their conduct is shameful to relate’.

When you, however, intend to talk about size or quantity, the right word to use is ‘enormous’, as in –‘She ate an enormous helping of rice’; ‘They received enormous cuts from the business transaction’. In both examples, enormous means extremely large or great. It would thus be wrong to say, ‘The enormity of rice she ate was bizarre’, or ‘The enormity of cuts granted them from the business proceeds was indescribable.’

I have been guilty of this fourth one! It’s ‘as yet/as such’. To be honest, these two expressions are unnecessary. The primary reason for this position is that there are simpler terms that can be used in their place. Consider using ‘yet’ instead of ‘as yet’ and ‘so’ in place of ‘as such’. Sentence examples: ‘We have not yet visited the new shopping mall downtown.’ ‘It is not so’. ‘People haven’t started patronising us yet’.

You can come up with more examples. Additionally, when you must distinguish between number and quantity, what markers can you use? Some might think of the words ‘fewer’ and ‘less’. Which should go for what? Note that ‘fewer’ means a smaller number of people or things. It means that something isn’t enough or that there is hardly any. Sentence examples: ‘I now have fewer friends than I used to in the past.’ ‘There are fewer books in our departmental library’. ‘Are there fewer than 20 items of this brand on the shelf?’ 

On the contrary, ‘less’ means a smaller amount/quantity of something. It is mostly used for talking about the quantity of a single thing. It is used to emphasize that something is not so great. Sentence examples: ‘The less time I spend with my phone, the better for me.’ ‘Do mothers have less love for their daughters?’

Rather than use the phrase ‘as to’ in sentence construction, consider using ‘about’. Much bureaucracy is domiciled in the phrase ‘as to’. So, rather than write ‘I would like to make an inquiry as to the efficacy of this product’, ‘I would like to make an inquiry about the efficacy of this product’ suffices.

Again, rather than use the following expressions – ‘due to the fact that’, ‘as a consequence of the fact that’ – to show the reason for something happening, consider using the conjunction ‘because’. However, do not use ‘because’ where ‘as’ would be more appropriate, not because it is wrong to start a sentence with ‘because’.

For example, ‘As we have not yet been paid our salaries, all members of staff decided to appeal to the management’ works better than ‘Because we have not yet been paid our salaries, all members of staff decided to appeal to the management’. It’s seemingly more professional and engaging for a lot of people who do not want to be seen attributing causes of things in their write-ups simply byusing the conjunction ‘because’.

Another word that is quite troublesome in usage is the verb ‘being’. A lot of people use it when they make a reference to someone or when they give a reason for something. In both cases there is no need for ‘being’. Rather than write ‘They are regarded as being the sterling couple in town’, write ‘They are regarded as the sterling couple in town’.

Also, there is no point adding ‘being’ in the following sentence – ‘It is particularly cold today. The reason being that we are experiencing the harmattan here.’ Eliminating ‘being’ will have the sentence simply read thus ‘It is particularly cold today. The reason is that we are experiencing the harmattan here’ or ‘It is particularly cold today as we are experiencing the harmattan here.’

The final set of words up for discussion is ‘comprise/constitute’. These words do not mean the same thing. The former means ‘embrace’ or ‘include’ while the latter means ‘to make up’. When we say that something comprises a thing, it means that it includes that thing. For example, we can say that an organisation comprises its members of staff – meaning that there are those people in the organisation. Note, however, that the members of staff do not comprise the organisation. They constitute it – they make up the organisation. Sixty-six books constitute the Holy Bible, while the Bible comprises 66 books.

If you enjoyed reading this article, like it, share it, and apply the learnings to your speaking and writing. You can also follow me on LinkedIn @RuthKarachiBensonOji for regular posts on #speakingandwriting.