English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
Important S’s
His doctorate was on humour and I’m doing something along the same ~line~ (nonstandard).
His doctorate was on humour and I’m doing something along the same *lines* (standard).
Note that this is different from saying “along the line”.
He was sacked because he cooked the ~book~ (nonstandard).
He was sacked because he cooked the *books* (standard).
If you say that someone has cooked the books, you mean that they have changed figures or a written record in order to deceive people.
First ~thing~ first, let’s eat (nonstandard).
First *things* first, let’s eat (standard).
You say ‘first things first’ when you are talking about something that should be done or dealt with before anything else because it is the most important.
GAB
