Laying emphasis on clarity for effective verbal communication

Admittedly, oratory is not child play; it can be intimidating. Words once uttered cannot be retrieved for editing, unlike the written word. Thus, the attitudes and mannerisms of people who interact with the public on a regular basis, be it in the media - particularly television - film or music industries go a long way in shaping the language or mannerism that youngsters and admirers pick up from them.

A mistake in articulation repeated over time assumes ‘correctness’ in the minds of listeners and learners. Television journalists exert great influence on the youth, who emulate the way their idols dress, walk and talk.

At the beginning of the year, I was not surprised to hear a friend’s son decline to go to school because he wanted to be a security guard. Asked why, he said he wanted to be like Papa Shirandula (a character in a TV drama).

Of course, at his age, the child knows little, but this goes to show how deeply such personalities impact our lives.

Pay attention

From radio, TV  programme presenters and panellists, it is common to hear expressions such as, ‘let’s have a listening’, ‘in regard to’, ‘in regards to’, ‘don’t go too far, we will be back in a bit (beat?)’, ‘stay tuned, we will be back in a moment’, ‘the programme resumes in a few’, ‘Thanks for having me’. How correct are some of these expressions?

Clearly, words to the effect ‘let’s have a listening’ are grammatically incorrect. ‘Listening’ is the present participle of the verb ‘listen’, which means to pay attention to, to concentrate on or lend an ear. As such, ‘listen to’ or ‘listen in’ (eavesdrop on a conversation) are the grammatically correct forms.

It is also proper to say ‘I am listening (to)’, ‘I found them listening to’, depending on the circumstances. In urging viewers to pay attention to a sound clip, it suffices to say ‘let’s listen to’.

Between ‘in regard to’ and ‘in regards to”, the former is correct. Avoid using the plural form of the word ‘regard’. Variations of this expression are “with regard to’, ‘having regard to’ all which also mean ‘In respect of”.

Clarity is critical to effective communication. Expressions such as ‘don’t go too far, we will be back in a bit (beat?)’ and ‘the programme resumes in a few’ lack clarity. What, which bit? And if it is ‘beat’ do we take it to mean ‘drumbeat’ or ‘heartbeat’?

‘In a few’ what? One may ask. But perhaps even more inappropriate is when guests on radio and television programmes laconically say: ‘Thanks for having me’.

Extra words

To ‘have’ is to hold, possess or own. At what point does the anchor do any of these things? Fully stating, ‘Thanks for having me on the programme/show’ does not leave room for questions or doubt.

There are times we should be economical with words, but where situations warrant, those extra words mean the difference between being misunderstood (at times with dire consequences) and being understood.

While listening to someone’s narration recently, I heard him utter the words, ‘…so we can learn how can we stay united’ as a statement, yet the use of ‘how’ and ‘can’ together should lead to a question. Placing the word ‘we’ between ‘how’ and ‘can’ (how we can) eliminates any question, but this escaped the individual who uttered those words.

Indeed, this is a common problem. Most of us fail to pay attention to the simple SVO (subject, verb, and object) order of sentence construction. Also related to this is the use of phrases ‘such as’, ‘such was’ or simply ‘such’.

The word ‘such’ is a determiner that is used in place of ‘very”. For example, ‘he bought such good shoes’. ‘Such’ precedes a noun phrase and simply states something; Mary is such a kind lady. ‘Such as’ is used in giving examples.

The use of ‘such was’ normally followed by ‘that’ or a comma after the first clause of a compound sentence indicates the writer is about to give more information or an explanation of something. For example, ‘such was the heat from the fire that the tarmac on the road melted’, or ‘such was the heat from the fire, the tarmac on the road melted’.

Mr Chagema is a correspondent at The Standard. achagema@standardmedia.co.ke