Theme: Radiating rare professional proficiency through advanced syntax and writing style skills
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PART A: Advanced syntax for the media
PART B: Advanced writing styles for the media
PREAMBLE
Communication is simply defined as the process by which information is shared between two people or organisations, or among individuals, etc. It is very critical to success in (almost) all areas, including career and business. For communication to be relevant, we must ensure it is effective. It is effective when the intended feedback or result is achieved.
It is noteworthy that organisations and people who communicate effectively are more successful and peaceful. Mastery of communication allows you to effectively reach, sell and relate with a worldwide audience of customers for business transactions. In the business world, the bottomline is money, and communicating well saves – and makes – it.
The concept of effective communication has changed in scope and dynamics in this digital age with multiplicity of technological devices and social media platforms.
The world is now a global village with many career and business opportunities as well as global threats of career and business competition. We need to be able to communicate well to stay ahead of career and business challenges in the global space.
Nigerian media reaction
It is a truism that almost all media houses now take advantage of the Internet to interact with a global audience daily by uploading their stories onto their websites.
Research has confirmed that the problem of Nigerianism in English, with its attendant lack of global intelligibility or understanding, has deprived many media houses in Nigeria the opportunity of attracting the expected global traffic to their websites due to communication breakdown especially occasioned by wrong semantic redeployment of English Language usage.
Mastery of English Language has become more important in our business relationships today, especially that it is the showroom of one’s level of intelligence as a first point of physical or textual contact. Or better still, it has become an arbitrary non-material instrument of gauging one’s height on the socio-intellectual ladder.
To maintain a competitive edge and appeal to a wider global audience through effective communication, the Nigerian media must write in Standard British English.
English Language syntax or grammar
Syntax or grammar refers to the embodiment of rules guiding the usage of any language. So, it is wrong to say somebody “is speaking (big) grammar” as we ignorantly say in Nigerian English, when we actually want to say “he (or she) uses high-sounding vocabulary”. This is an error of wrong redeployment of language.
Mastery of different grammatical concepts of English Language is largely accountable for proficiency in the use of the language.
It is a truism that organisations are as good as the quality of their writing. Almost all organisations lay claim to good writing skills. But more often than not, their writing is infested with poor grammar.
Style guide
Also, every Nigerian media house needs to have a well-packaged, comprehensive and standard style guide that will serve as a rallying point for achieving stylistic uniformity and project clear professional identity. Attaining stylistic uniformity is better achieved when all stakeholders, whether in-house journalists or outside contributors are made to read, understand and apply the contents of the style guide.
Definition and need for style
Style refers to the way in which an idea is expressed or something is done. The writing style consists of the particular choice of words a writer uses (diction) and the manner in which those words are combined into phrases, clauses, sentences, etc.
Organisations need to have a style guide so as to entrench a corporate culture of effective writing that will enhance the overall culture of excellence and consistency. This is because the practice of good and collaborative writing boosts career, facilitates business development and profitability.
Style is so important because most readers or people arbitrarily determine the personality of a writer from the writing style. A boring writing style therefore implies a boring person. A lively and impressive writing style means a lively and impressive person that can be associated with and/or transacted business with.
Note: Stylistic boredom can manifest due to overuse of one type of sentence structure; overuse of clichés; jargon; one type of paragraph length; use of complex vocabulary in succession; common usage of words or lack of creative application of simple diction chosen, etc.
A good presentation style must be creatively and distinctively simple (but not common or ordinary) to be able to arouse and sustain readers’ interest always. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005 edition, “simple” means “not difficult or complicated to do or understand”.
PART A: Advanced syntax for the media
What to cover
(1) Nigerian English, usage in the media and global implication in the digital age.
(2) Mastering advanced technical tense application for temporal accuracy in (news)writing.
(3) Reported speech, historical present and the Nigerian media’s rigid observance of academic tense sequence rule in newswriting.
Note: Case study of The Guardian of London, FT and Wall Street Journal too.
(4) Concord and noticeable disharmony and inconsistency in the Nigerian media.
(5) Understanding the verbal confusion of mass nouns and structurally but conceptually singular plural nouns for proficiency.
(6) Unravelling orthographical overlap of obscure adjectives and adverbs for accuracy of writing.
(7) Conditional clauses, grammatical and conceptual variety and misapplication by the Nigerian media.
(8) Traditional grammarians’ noun definition, advanced analysis, overgeneralisation effects on proficiency and gokerian (re)definition.
(9) Nigerian media, passive conjunction misapplication, use of dangling modifiers and rule of combination.
(10) Grammatical voice mastery, diplomacy of communication and conceptual versatility for media proficiency.
(11) Understanding the typography of compound words, ellipsis and word segmentation for literate writing.
Note: Case study of The Economist, etc.
(12) Determiners and notable errors by the Nigerian media.
(13) Word capitalisation, typographical variety and grammatical implication/controversy.
(14) Understanding grammatical determination of individual and joint ownership through punctuation in commoner nouns.
(15) “H-”begun words and accurate assignment of twin indefinite articles of “an and “a”.
(16) Mastering Lexicographical (dictionary) short forms for flawless writing.
(17) Structural Sentence types and application for balanced writing.
Emphasis: Breaking the potency of technical infinitive error in a compound sentence.
PART B: Advanced writing styles for the media
What to cover
(1) Applying qualities of effective writing to stimulate readership.
(2) Mastering professional stages of writing for speed and effectiveness.
(3) Understanding the structural distinction between loose and periodic styles.
Note: suspense, denouement, stylistic emphasis (like inversion and voice), etc.
(4) Simple and complex styles and paradox of a simple diction but complex style.
(5) Active-voice in-house style and rigidity in passive voice adoption in headline and lead for situational emphasis.
(6) Enhancing your editorial gatekeeping with wide recognition span and rhythmic eye movement strategy.
(7) Embellishing paragraphing with unity, coherence and stylistic rhythm for conceptual harmony and structural balance.
(8) Mastering four skills of communication for intellectual versatility and stylistic effectiveness.
GOKE ILESANMI’S SHORT PROFILE
- GOKE ILESANMI (FIIM, FIMC, CMC), GUEST SPEAKER at the Sixth International Conference of UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND, is the Managing Consultant/CEO, Gokmar Communication Consulting and Fellow of both the Institute of Information Management Africa and Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria.
LINK TO THE TWITTER VERSION OF UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND’S SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE WHERE GOKE ILESANMI SPOKE https://twitter.com/CAREED_UWS/status/1486702966241431553?t=_LwgiSHkIp8c3yMdmH-YIw&s=08
Ilesanmi, who is a Certified Management Consultant from the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes also manages the online publication segment www.gokeilesanmi.com.ng as Publisher/Editor-in-Chief.
A former Acting Editor of Financial Standard newspaper, former Editor, Reference Nigeria and Columnist at The Nation newspaper, he is equally an International PLATINUM Columnist with the U.S.A-based ezinearticles.com, an authoritative international online platform currently having about 500,000 international columnists.
If you Google Ilesanmi’s full name, that is, GOKE ILESANMI, you will get thousands of global results and comments on him, including that of LARRY JAMES, a renowned America’s guru of Networking quoting him (GOKE ILESANMI) as an international authority in his (James’s) article on Networking. https://networkinghq.wordpress.com/tag/goke-ilesanmi/
A former Lecturer at the Ondo State Polytechnic (now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic), Lagos Campus, who was nominated on 23rd January, 2018 by Commonwealth University, Belize (based in Central/North America) for award of HONORARY DOCTORATE IN LEADERSHIP in recognition of his professional achievements and contributions to the knowledge world, also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literary Studies from the University of Ado-Ekiti; Professional Certificates in Public Speaking as well as Diplomas in Desktop Publishing and Theology.
Tel: 08055068773; 08056030424; 08187499425
Emails: gokeiles2010@gmail.com, gokmarcomconsulting@gmail.com
Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com.ng