By Olayiwola Ridwan
Aminu visits Salamatu in her hostel.
He seeks the assistance of a female student he meets outside Salamatu’s hostel to call her out for him. The girl enters and calls Salamatu for him.
Aminu: Good evening, Hajia Salamatu.
Salamatu: oh! It’s you. I was wondering who it could be. Because, I didn’t have any meeting appointment with anyone by this time.
Aminu: I’m sorry for not giving you a prior notice.
Salamatu: It’s fine. It’s just that I don’t like to be CAUGHT UNAWARE.
Aminu : Accept my apology for CATCHING YOU UNAWARES.
Salamatu: (getting familiar with Aminu) Which one is UNAWARES now? Where is the ‘S’ coming from?
Aminu: This is the result of your instruction. I have been learning a lot from the MIND YOUR GRAMMAR COLUMN with Olayiwola Ridwan Adetunji.
Salamatu: (speaks fondly) so, I have spoken wrongly now, Mr scholar?
Aminu: Who am I to say that? But, what I have learnt through the column is that, ‘unaware’ appears with an ‘S’ in the phrase “catch unawares”. So, you catch someone unawares, and not unaware. That’s when something happens to someone unexpectedly.
Salamatu: In that case, I would have been correct if I had said that; your visitation CAUGHT me completely UNAWARES?
Aminu: Absolutely. The word has a fixed form in this expression.
Salamatu: Thanks for the correction. I equally appreciate your effort to learn. You are now outsmarting me. I have to leave now though.
Aminu: No o! You are still my boss. I’m just following your footsteps. Anyway, we will meet again later.
For the first time, Salamatu feels challenged. She realizes how her failure to follow MIND YOUR GRAMMAR COLUMN has grossly affected her improvement. Now, the struggle for excellence between Aminu and Salamatu rises, as Salamatu vows to find her way back to MIND YOUR GRAMMAR COLUMN.
This is brilliant, boss!