The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi
TELL your children while they are still young that the money demanded by the courts from an offender for an offence committed is not A FIND. It is A FINE.
The delicious food served in hotels and restaurants, no matter how mouth-watering or appetising, is not a MENU, please note. Menu refers to the displayed lists of food varieties and prices available. A menu is a piece of paper or card.
What Manchester United bangs through those goalposts past the goalkeeper are not scores; they are goals. The score refers to the result: MU 4 Swansea 0! That is the score. Four goals; please note, not scores!
Tell your children to go to bed when they are tired and want to rest; not go to sleep. Even if you use mats or animal skins, you still go to bed. Going to bed does not refer to the bed and mattress as we know them. It is an English expression which means you are tired and want to rest.
So you go to bed. You will eventually sleep but no one ever knows precisely what time. That is why we go to bed and not to sleep. That said, I am sure you can now see why it is a ridiculous statement to say, “Last night I slept at 9pm” (how do you know?); rather you went to bed at 9pm (this you know for sure.)
And finally for this week, the money you are forced to pay for making someone’s daughter pregnant (not surprising, even someone’s wife these days) is not DAMAGE. It is called DAMAGES. The “S” or its absence is hugely important. It determines the difference between using English language or some other language.
The “S” does not denote a plural. That is its name – “damages”, not “damage”. You damage someone’s car or reputation. It is a verb which means “destroy”
DAMAGES ndiwo mathazza emabond notes amunobhadhariswa majamba ma”durawall” evanhu kunyangira vana vevanhu kana vakadzi vavo. Of course, you now know “durawall” is not that wall around your house and home. Iyo inonzi “pre-cast wall”. The company that created that pattern of wall-designing was called DURAWALL.
That is all for one week. Enjoy!
