Respectively, separate, already and jointly

Respectively, separate, already and jointly are the most mis- and abused words in newspaper reports, more so in the drafts the reporters file for the desk. In about 90 per cent cases, the words can be safely dispensed with, without any compromise on the meaning. Reporters more often write, and editors often allow, sentences such as 'the deputy commissioner visited the school and the hospital respectively,' 'the man filed two separate petitions with the court,' 'the ministry have already sent the letter to the corporation,' and 'Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University have jointly organised the debate.'

'Respectively' has no relevance in the first example as no two sets of things are correlated. Even when two sets are correlated with 'respectively,' a rephrasing can help in dispensing with the adverb: 'Shah Alam and Shahin Islam have been elected president and general secretary of the association respectively' can easily be rephrased 'Shah Alam has been elected president and Shahin Islam general secretary to the association.'

Reporters invariably use separate with the modifiers 'two' or 'three' as if 'three single petitions' could also be regarded as semantically correct. In most cases, 'already' loses its significance and it has become clichéd; and when we name two organisers of a single event, should we write that they have done it jointly?