30 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012
BY FAITH OLANIRAN
Students organise training
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HE campus of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), was thrown into confusion, Friday, as students trooped out in large numbers to protest the sudden death of their students’ union president, Comrade Oladapo Awopegba (aka D.P.O), who lost his life alongside two other SUG presidents, that of Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Akure and School of Nursing and Midwifer y, Akure, in a ghastly motor accident that occurred along Emure-Ile on Owo-Akure Road, Friday. According to investigation, the union leaders were on their way to Akure from Abuja where they had gone to attend an award ceremony organised by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to eminent Nigerians, including Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State. According to the students, Comrade Awopegba’s death makes it the ninth death the school will record in the last three weeks. Other students who lost their lives within the university community were said to have died mysteriously. The students want the school authorities to do something about the recurring death within the school premises and also want the Federal Government in conjunction with the state government to find a lasting solution to the bad Akure-Owo Road to avoid future recurrence. Reacting to the incident, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Biyi Daramola, said that plans are ongoing by the management of the school to
BY TOSIN ADESILEUNILAG
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•FUTA students protesting the death of their SUG president last Friday
FUTA students protest death of SUG President give a befitting commendation service and a candle light procession to the late comrade. He, however, appealed to the students to go back to their various hostels and continue to pray for the well-being of the school. He prayed for the school and students that such calamity will not befall them again. Prof. Daramola also joined the students in their walk from FUTA junction to FUTA south gate singing solidarity songs in
Frequently Confused Words COMPLIMENT – COMPLEMENT Compliment and complement are frequently confused words. Note the difference in spelling between compliment and complement. The letter ‘I’ in the former and ‘e’ in the latter convey a whole world of meaning difference. Compliment is ‘an expression of praise, admiration or congratulations.’ Complement means ‘something that completes.’ A complement in grammar is ‘a noun group which occurs after
honour of the late comrades. Meanwhile, the Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has commiserated with the school authorities, staff and students on the sudden demise of the number one student citizen of the school, noting that he died in active service and must not be forgotten. Mimiko said his plans will be communicated to the students in a short while. He
said necessary measures will be taken on the issue of AkureOwo Road to avoid such recurrence. The Governor who had earlier visited the Federal Medical Centre, Owo to see the injured students receiving treatment, prayed for the families of the deceased that God in his mercy will give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.
a verb such as be, seem or become’ e.g. in the sentence ‘Professor Niyi Osundare is a renowned poet’, ‘a renowned poet is a complement.’ Each of the two words can be used both as a noun and as a verb. You can pay someone a compliment (noun) i.e. you say something nice about the person. You can compliment (verb) someone i.e. You praise the person. As a plural noun (compliments), you send compliments ‘to express good wishes or respect. Examples: The Principal paid the brilliant student a compliment on his academic performance. The cashier did not take the customer’s remark as a compliment. Compliments of the season! Communal labour should complement government efforts on road repairs. Men and women have strengths that complement each other. OFF-HEAD - BY HEART - OFFHAND Off-head is not an English word (though it is common among Nigerian users of English) but offhand is. Offhand is an adverb which means ‘spontaneous, without needing to think very hard, without preparation or research’; as in
HE Press Club,University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, just concluded its first training organised for all members of the organisation. The event was held at the Complete Sport Newsroom,department of M a s s Communication,UNILAG. Speaking with the press family were Dr. Tola Sunday,lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Fisayo Soyombo,editor,The Will Newspaper(Nigeria Correspondent), and Sunday Oguntola,The Nation Newspaper. The speakers spoke extensively on how to be a successful writer and reporter while the ethical aspect was not left out. Dr. Sunday advised students of journalism to be wary of ethical issues in order to be successful writers. Mr. Fisayo Soyombo who spoke on Fifteen Habits of Great Writers and Reporters, advised the students to read “10 Do’s and Don’ts” of the Press club as regards writing and reporting and advised members to put to practice all they learnt during the training. The Press Club,University of Lagos is the students' voice, an association under the office of the Dean, Students Affairs, UNILAG.
‘Offhand, I can think of five examples of criminals in government’. Do not say offhead, when you want to express that you can remember something perfectly. By heart is the expression to use. By heart implies ‘from memory, by rote’. Example: ‘Some teachers encourage learning poetry by heart’. IT’S HIGH TIME… The expression ‘it’s high time’…is not followed by a present tense verb though its meaning is present or future. It is always followed by the past tense of a verb. It is ungrammatical to say ‘It’s high time he comes’. It is an error in the use of verbs. The grammatical sentence is ‘It’s high time he came.’
zCONTINUES NEXT WEEK. Send requests/problems to Gabriel Osoba, Ph.D, Department of English, Lagos State University, Ojo, through Editor, Teach Yourself English, Vanguard Newspapers, PMB. 1007, Apapa, Lagos, or email: editor@vanguardngr.com & gabosoba002@yahoo.co