‘Funny enough’ and three other wrong phrases you should get right

The phrase sounds so harmless that you can hardly suspect it is a piece of error. That is ‘funny enough’, when used to mean surprisingly. You too are likely to have it used one time or the other. This is how it is often loudly put:

Funny enough, a governor leaving office on May 29 has just appointed five new commissioners.

Funny enough, two of the senator-elects lobbying to become the Senate President have corruption cases with the EFCC.

Both clauses are grammatically faulty because of the use of the adjective, ‘’funny’. What is required in the structure is the adverb, ‘funnily’ – not ‘funny’. In other words, the correct expression in the context is ‘funnily enough’ and that is what you will see in dependable dictionaries:

According to Cambridge Dictionary, funnily enough means strangely or in a way that is surprising.  An example from the dictionary:

Funnily enough, I was just thinking about you when you called.

 So, the two clauses above should read:

Funnily enough, a governor leaving office on May 29 has just appointed five new commissioners.

Funnily enough, two of the senator-elects lobbying to become the Senate President have corruption cases with the EFCC.

Joke apart

Although ‘joke apart’ is also a common phrase, the standard expression is ‘joking apart’, as we once explained in this class. It is, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, used to say that you want to say something seriously. (Joking apart, they did do quite a good job for us.) Here are other examples:

Joking apart, he is one of the best players in the Super Eagles now.

Joking apart, the security apparatus needs to be overhauled.

For goodness sake

This is another problematic popular saying. It harbours possession but many don’t show such, as they leave out the apostrophe required to achieve it. Although a few authorities seem to recognise and adopt ‘for goodness sake’, the more acceptable version is for goodness’ sake:

For goodness’ sake, let the poor boy go.

For goodness’ sake, return the car to its owner.

The implication is that the following are also not correct: for posterity sake, for God sake and for heavens sake. The correct versions are presented in the following clauses:

For posterity’s sake, I will participate in the election.

For God’s sake, don’t leave without informing the woman.

For heaven’s sake, don’t mock the victims of the war.

Take serious

We treated this not long ago. So, just remember that you don’t take someone serious, you take them seriously:

I didn’t take him serious when he said he would travel to London that day. (Wrong)

I didn’t take him seriously when he said he would travel to London that day. (Correct).