English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
WRONG LEXICAL CHOICES
Mary is ~unattentive~ (nonstandard).
Mary is inattentive (standard).
Many young people are ~indisciplined~ (nonstandard).
Many young people are undisciplined (standard).
Note that “indiscipline” is a noun. Indiscipline takes you nowhere.
We need to lay ~emphacy~ on that point (nonstandard).
We need to lay emphasis on that point (standard). Note that “emphacy” is not a word in English; the error is born out of faulty analogy which makes users compare the word to others such as “prophecy” and “decency”.
GAB
