It is almost spinning into a cliché, though frequently used statement, “On his part” or “On her part,” when the writer, journalist or the reporter wants us to belief the story he or she is telling is coming from the point of view of his or her interviewee. In other words, the story is not just cooked up or faked, but attributed to a source or someone, as it is the practice in the journalism profession worldwide. However, the story is different in our clime, where the standard is lowered or abused in engaging the phrase. Often we hear and read about “on his part” on the airwaves and newspapers. The monotony of the statement, to say the least, is of concern to the English pragmatics as if there are no other ways to say it.
Why are our reporters or journalists afraid to look for something new to shock their audiences? Or why do they shy away from digging deep into the pool of available reference materials and come out with something fresh, appealing, and spare us the boredom of repeating words and phrases over and over again? To the extent that the reader or listener already knows before hand the story or event the reporter is about to tell, down to his or her straight jacket approach and style of presentation of such occurrence. Event at that, the listener and reader are tired of the recycled statement “on his part” when bringing into the picture the source of information to make or render one’s report credible and believable. The masters and purists of the language are no longer at ease with the over-laboured and now redundant phrase, “on his part” or “on her part,” but instead, write and sound direct “for his part” or “for her part.
” That way, the monotony of the expression “on his part” is broken. One can even write, for example, using the statement “as for” to make sense and sound fresh. One may also fall back on another expression, which I rather considered as long windedness and stale phrase, “as far as he or she is concerned.” I would prefer “as for” statement to point to my object or source of information at least, to introduce some kind of newness in my report. I can simply report, for instance, “As for Mr. Peter, disbanding the discredited Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) as made public by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, is in order.
” There are other varieties of ways we can say it without sounding repetitive and boring as we have it in the uninspiring and stale phrase “On his part.” Again, let us be mindful of the way we use words and phrases on radio and television in order not to alienate or place a barrier on the listening and viewing publics which include the fairly educated or even children. The broadcast media, as we know, thrives on simplicity. That is why words that are considered flowery and extremely difficult to understand at a glance should be avoided. Breakdown complex words such as “ameliorate,” which I heard on the news bulletin of a radio station, to simple words people can understand. Substitute “ameliorate” with “improve” or “redress.
