Language Agenda: Verbosity From Power House 

The Author

Introduction
In a release signed by Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff, "the President of the Republic has directed that all foreign travels by Hon. Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs and Heads of Government Agencies be TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED with immediate effect." [Emphasis mine]

This directive is good news as it is expectedly aimed at "minimizing disruption to Government's domestic work." However, the phrase "temporarily suspended" seemingly constitutes a grammatical porthole. Hahahahahaaa! Call it verbosity, and you are right.

Explanation
The word "temporary" is part of the semantic properties of the verb "suspend." In other words, "temporary" is already included in the meaning of "suspend" as a verb and "suspension" as a noun. This implies that whatever has been "suspended" is "temporary" NOT permanent. Therefore, it is needless for the adverb "temporarily" - which is derived from the adjective "temporary" to modify the verb "suspend." Certainly such a construction amounts to verbiage: using more words than necessary.

Correction
A simple way of correcting the faulty phrase is to delete the adverb "temporarily." Let us consider the following:

● The President of the Republic has directed that all foreign travels by Hon. Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs and Heads of Government Agencies be SUSPENDED with immediate effect.

Alternatively, we could use a synonym of "suspend" whose meaning is not inclusive of "temporary." This way, the use of "temporarily" is justified. Let us consider the following example in which "ban" is substituted:

● The President of the Republic has directed that all foreign travels by Hon. Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs and Heads of Government Agencies be TEMPORARILY BANNED with immediate effect.

Conclusion
Dear reader, it is significant to observe that this and similar errors are caused by our inordinate desire to use modifiers for clarity and emphasis. While modifiers add beauty to structure and meaning, they can constitute tools of misconstruction and miscommunication if they are not properly applied. We, therefore, need to be cautious!!!

Allah is the Best Grammarian.
By Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq Azindoo
Lecturer, University of Applied Management, Germany - Ghana Campus, McCarthy Hill, Accra.

Email: [email protected]