ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THREE SELECTED NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS
ABSTRACT
The high incidence of grammatical errors in Nigeria print media has become a matter of great concern to the elites, especially the academia because of the great damage it does to the reading public. This research work set out, essentially to identify, describe, analyze and correct obvious grammatical errors in three selected widely read Nigerian newspapers namely: The Sun, The Vanguard and The Guardian. Using the qualitative research method, 30 copies of each of the newspapers, randomly selected from Jan. 2005 to July 2018 editions were examined to identify any grammatically error, guided by the tenets of Transformational Generative Grammar of Noam Chomsky. The data gathered were analyzed using the Error Analysis procedure of Stephen Pit Corder. For ease of assessment, the errors were classified into lexical, syntactical and semantic categories and the analyses were presented in form of narrative. The findings showed that grammatical errors in the newspapers were as a result of personal native language habits (patterns and rules), socio-economic influences and outright abuse of Journalese. To stem the ugly trend, the researcher recommends that only qualified teachers of English Language should be assigned to teach the subject at all levels of academic institutions in Nigeria; English Language (Grammar) should be made a compulsory course in journalism and Mass Communication; editors should wake up to justify their primary duty of gate-keeping and policing of both content and presentation of information; and that print media organizations should adopt good feedback mechanism for improved and error free expressions.