By Chong Beng Lim
Congratulations Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan on
becoming the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“Daulat Tuanku!”
Unfortunately, The Star stutters again on this memorable and
special occasion in its reporting!
It broke the news that “Sultan Muhammad would be the second Kelantan ruler to ascend to
the throne.”
I was over the moon while reading that. But wait, should it
be ‘ascend to the throne’ or ‘ascend the throne’?
When I looked up the word “ascend” in my Longman Dictionary
of Contemporary English, it clearly states that the standard phrase is “ascend the throne.”
On yesterday evening, I stumbled upon an article in the Financial Times, titled, “Enigmatic ‘black sheep’ poised to ascend Thailand’sthrone”, about the demise of the 70-year-reign Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the imminent ascension to the throne by the crown prince, Maha Vajiralongkorn.
It is crystal clear that the standard phrase is ‘ascend the throne’.
We can say:
succeed to the throne,
ascension to the throne,
accession to the throne,
succession to the throne,
next in line to the throne,
But obviously, not ‘ascend to the throne’!
©ChongBeng Lim, The Standard of Malaysia English,
2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and
written permission from The Standard of Malaysia English is strictly
prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit
is given to Chong Beng Lim and The Standard of Malaysia English blogspot with
appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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