On the ground or on the grounds phrase

The statement “On the ground”
or “On the grounds” has yet
become another darling of
the writer, journalist and reporter
often bandied around at the slightest
thought about giving reasons for doing
or thinking of something, from the
dictionary interpretation. My worries
are that the phrase like others severally
pointed out in our past English lessons
has suffered from abuse and misuse.
The little things or details many of
us think do not matter and we are
careless about could certainly dent our
records and place us behind our rivals
or competitors in the same industry.
I may deviate a little, please pardon
me. Why do you think in the media
(broadcast) sub sector, for example,
Channels Television where I worked
on the editorial desk before now
emerged as the best TV station of the
year several times over more than it
closest rival? The simple truth is that
the staffs, particularly the editorial
staffs are trained to develop eyes for
details first and foremost. Even as it
strives to beat deadlines and be on top
of the news on the hourly basis it never
compromises on doing the right thing.
That is the mentality of the average
Channels TV personnel be it on the
editorial or production desk. That
is one of the reasons why so often I
cringed when I watch or listen to some
of our television and radio stations
take things for granted in the treat-
ment of scripts, giving information on
the scroll/news bar (TV) and vocaliz-
ing them in most cases.
Not too long ago, one of the national
television stations had on its news bar
“…on the ground the petitioner could
not prove its case beyond reasonable
doubt…” omitting the letter‘s’ to read
‘grounds.’ To the English pragmatics
and masters the error could be treated
or taken as a minus to the station even
if it scores high on delivery of the news
to the audience. That is where having
eyes for details matters much.
Just as I said before, (not ‘like I
said before’ as many would speak)
jettison the phrase ‘on the ground’
without the letter ‘s’ but go for ‘on the
grounds’ with the letter ‘s’ that is the
correct usage for giving reasons for
doing or thinking something. One
can correctly write “the tailor failed
to deliver as when due on grounds
of ill-health.” Not “the tailor failed
to deliver as when due on ground of
ill-health.”
Still on the news man’s English, we
take a look at some flowery expres-
sions and see how we can abridge and
replace them with short, direct and
functional one or two-syllable word
for easy understanding, after all as
mass communicators we must work
to reach if not all but the majority
of the audience we intend to inform
with developments as they break or
happen. Let’s take the following words
‘conservative,’ ‘caused injuries to,’
‘conflagration,’ ‘declared redundant,’
‘completely untrue,’ and ‘demonstrate.’
These are words or phrases that excite
us and swell our heads as writers to
tell the reading and listening publics
how much we know about English
grammar and so we can engage them
at will perhaps to impress us and the
audience.
Not so much about impressing
ourselves but expressing our thoughts
and opinions to the understanding of
those we want to address. We will be
making fools of ourselves as writers,
reporters or journalists if we indulge
in employing high sounding and over
killing diatribes to pass our message
to as many people we can reach. Sim-
plicity in the use of words as I often
remind my readers is the trade mark
of the creative writer. Just watch the
advertising copy writer and see how
convincing he or she sounds in push-
ing the client’s products and services
to an unwilling audience compelling
them to act or inspires curiosity.
Therefore rather than swim in
flowery language to impress one’s
self, the word ‘conservative’ should be
replaced with the one or two-syllable
word ‘low,’ ‘cautious.’ So also ‘caused
injury to,’ substitute with the word
‘injured, hurt.’ ‘Conflagration, de-
clared redundant, completely untrue,
and demonstrate,’ should as well be
dumped for ‘fire, sacked, retired, false
and show.’ That way we sound better.
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