THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES AND TYPES OF ARTICLE ERRORS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR LINGUISTIC AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

This study aims at considering the use of English articles and types of article errors, in some selected Nigerian Newspaper: Implication for Linguistic and national development in Nigeria. Three Newspapers were randomly selected. The errors detected were identified and classified based on the Surface Structure Taxonomy (SST) of errors (omission, addition and substitution) The nature, distribution and significance of Nigerian newspapers, misuse of the English Article 'A', 'AN' and 'THE' are identified and discussed. Spanning the period of one week (Monday 14th to Sunday 20th November, 2022) a total of 89 lead articles from three widely read Nigerian newspapers were scanned. The results reveal that The Nigerian Tribune has the highest manifested occurrence of the misuse of the definite article "THE" in its lead, from front and back page stories and the instances of substituting article A for THE. (Seven (7) copies of the paper in one week of publication were with about 90 errors). Following the Tribune is the Punch which had errors of the misapplication of the English elliptical rule in 49 issues. The paper with the lowest incidence of the misuse of article was the "Nation" having 15 misapplication of article THE, including article A and AN in 78 issues).Consequent upon the research findings, the researcher opines that: The media houses should become more sensitive to public opinion about the use of English articles improving their standard through regular training of personnel. Equally, during employment, preference should be given to those who have knowledge of journalism and are competent in the use of English language. In ad  dition, regular seminars, refresher courses and workshops, have to be arranged. Also, monitoring bodies like the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Journalists should be more proactively functional ensuring that members are kept abreast of rules and developments