How does a "Grammarian" help members?
In Toastmasters, there is a role called "Grammarian," who pays attention to the participants' use of language. They help the speakers be aware of their grammatical errors and mistakes while helping other members learn how they can choose effective words and phrases to express ideas.
Here's how the Grammarian for this meeting performed his duty. During the meeting, the time allotted for the Grammarian report is limited, generally a few minutes. To compensate, he sent an email to discuss in detail what he found during the meeting. Take a look at his written Grammarian report below.
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I loved it!
From Taka's speech:
"Afraid I was. Challenging it was. Excited I was." (Inverted sentence)
"as a last resort"
"regardless of ~"
From Andy's speech:
"let them sink in."
"First things first."
"This guy was all about education."
"enduring value of Toastmasters"
From Caliph's Table Topics
"at the expense of individuality"
"I'm enjoying the ride."
We might want to pay attention.
"Please help me to welcome him."
⇒ "Please help me in welcoming him." or "Please join me in welcoming him."
"I came here lately."
⇒ "I came here late." (lately is similar to recently.)
"who just graduated from university"
⇒ "who had just graduated from university" This may not be entirely wrong, but it would have made it clearer if the past perfect tense had been used.
"I need a mentor."
⇒ "I needed a mentor." I think the speaker was talking about what he thought in the past.
"I told him, "Can you become my mentor?"
⇒ "I asked him, "Can you become my mentor?"
To introduce a question, "ask" seems more appropriate than "tell."
"Toastmaster"
⇒ "Toastmasters"
At this point, the speaker was obviously referring to Toastmasters International. The organization's name is Toastmasters, not Toastmaster.
Daimaru Hyakkaten
⇒ Daimaru Department Store
"go to the Kyoto"
⇒ "go to Kyoto" City names do not accompany the definite article "the."
"guardman"
⇒ "security guard"
headquarter
⇒ "headquarters" This word is always used with the "s" at the end.
SNS
⇒ social media site, or social networking site SNS is a Japanese abbreviation.
"seasonable"
⇒ "seasonal" I think "seasonal" was appropriate for the context.
"most favorite"
⇒ "favorite" Usually the word "favorite" is not used in the comparative or superlative form because it means something you like the best
"my friend gathered"
⇒ "my friends gathered"
30 years long
⇒ "for the first time in 30 years" I think the context was "30年ぶりに"
"listen your evaluator"
⇒ listen to your evaluator
"easy to understandable"
⇒ "easy to understand" a base form of a verb should follow the adjective + to.
"be nervous and anxiety"
⇒ "be nervous and anxious" The word "and" should connect words/phrases that has the same function. For example, when the word/phrase before "and" is an adjective like in this case, the word/phrase that follows "and" should also be an adjective.
"more clearly and detail"
⇒ "more clearly and in detail" For the very same reason above.
"one improvement point"
⇒ "one point to improve upon" This has always bothered me.A literal translation of "改善点" does not sound right...
"I wanted you to "
⇒ "I would have appreciated if you had ~" "I wanted you to ~" sounds overly harsh. It sounds like an order from a supervisor.
*Using the subjunctive mood (仮定法) might sound overly polite, though. Something like, "It would be great to ~" In any case, familiarity with the subjunctive mood is something we might want to gain. People tend to think it is not used much simply because it appears last in your grammar textbook. This is not the case. It is a must-know.
"one suggestion point"
⇒ "one suggestion" or "one thing to suggest" I don't see any point in using the word "point" here.
"Are you okay?"
⇒ "Are you ready?" "Are you okay" sounds like the other person is sick.
"gave me relaxed attitude"
⇒ "made me relaxed"
"philosophy that has"
⇒ "philosophy that the organization has" The original one lacks either the subject or the object.
"one of the important role"
⇒ "one of the important roles" This is a common mistake. Phrases "one of" and "some of" must always be followed by a plural noun if the noun is countable because if there is only one of the item, there is no way we refer to it as "one of it."
"covered the applause"
⇒ "stepped on the applause" The speaker was talking about someone starting to speak before the applause died down.
"totally"
⇒ "finally" This word was used to conclude a report. The word "totally" has a similar meaning to "entirely" and is not used as a discourse marker.
"two information"
⇒ "some information" or two pieces of information"
The word "information" is an uncountable noun and requires another word like "piece" to count it. It's similar to "a cup of coffee," "a slice of bread," and "a piece of cake."
"keep notes"
⇒ "take notes"
Pronunciation and stress
Instead of PROJector, we say proJECtor.
Instead of /ou/ vowel, we use the same vowel of "caught" for "applause"
Instead of HIStorical, we say hisTORical
Instead of COMmittee, we say comMITtee
Instead of /ou/ vowel, we use the same vowel of "hot" for "cost"
Instead of CONtrol, we say conTROL
Hope this helps!
In Toastmasters, there is a role called "Grammarian," who pays attention to the participants' use of language. They help the speakers be aware of their grammatical errors and mistakes while helping other members learn how they can choose effective words and phrases to express ideas.
Here's how the Grammarian for this meeting performed his duty. During the meeting, the time allotted for the Grammarian report is limited, generally a few minutes. To compensate, he sent an email to discuss in detail what he found during the meeting. Take a look at his written Grammarian report below.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I loved it!
From Taka's speech:
"Afraid I was. Challenging it was. Excited I was." (Inverted sentence)
"as a last resort"
"regardless of ~"
From Andy's speech:
"let them sink in."
"First things first."
"This guy was all about education."
"enduring value of Toastmasters"
From Caliph's Table Topics
"at the expense of individuality"
"I'm enjoying the ride."
We might want to pay attention.
"Please help me to welcome him."
⇒ "Please help me in welcoming him." or "Please join me in welcoming him."
"I came here lately."
⇒ "I came here late." (lately is similar to recently.)
"who just graduated from university"
⇒ "who had just graduated from university" This may not be entirely wrong, but it would have made it clearer if the past perfect tense had been used.
"I need a mentor."
⇒ "I needed a mentor." I think the speaker was talking about what he thought in the past.
"I told him, "Can you become my mentor?"
⇒ "I asked him, "Can you become my mentor?"
To introduce a question, "ask" seems more appropriate than "tell."
"Toastmaster"
⇒ "Toastmasters"
At this point, the speaker was obviously referring to Toastmasters International. The organization's name is Toastmasters, not Toastmaster.
Daimaru Hyakkaten
⇒ Daimaru Department Store
"go to the Kyoto"
⇒ "go to Kyoto" City names do not accompany the definite article "the."
"guardman"
⇒ "security guard"
headquarter
⇒ "headquarters" This word is always used with the "s" at the end.
SNS
⇒ social media site, or social networking site SNS is a Japanese abbreviation.
"seasonable"
⇒ "seasonal" I think "seasonal" was appropriate for the context.
"most favorite"
⇒ "favorite" Usually the word "favorite" is not used in the comparative or superlative form because it means something you like the best
"my friend gathered"
⇒ "my friends gathered"
30 years long
⇒ "for the first time in 30 years" I think the context was "30年ぶりに"
"listen your evaluator"
⇒ listen to your evaluator
"easy to understandable"
⇒ "easy to understand" a base form of a verb should follow the adjective + to.
"be nervous and anxiety"
⇒ "be nervous and anxious" The word "and" should connect words/phrases that has the same function. For example, when the word/phrase before "and" is an adjective like in this case, the word/phrase that follows "and" should also be an adjective.
"more clearly and detail"
⇒ "more clearly and in detail" For the very same reason above.
"one improvement point"
⇒ "one point to improve upon" This has always bothered me.A literal translation of "改善点" does not sound right...
"I wanted you to "
⇒ "I would have appreciated if you had ~" "I wanted you to ~" sounds overly harsh. It sounds like an order from a supervisor.
*Using the subjunctive mood (仮定法) might sound overly polite, though. Something like, "It would be great to ~" In any case, familiarity with the subjunctive mood is something we might want to gain. People tend to think it is not used much simply because it appears last in your grammar textbook. This is not the case. It is a must-know.
"one suggestion point"
⇒ "one suggestion" or "one thing to suggest" I don't see any point in using the word "point" here.
"Are you okay?"
⇒ "Are you ready?" "Are you okay" sounds like the other person is sick.
"gave me relaxed attitude"
⇒ "made me relaxed"
"philosophy that has"
⇒ "philosophy that the organization has" The original one lacks either the subject or the object.
"one of the important role"
⇒ "one of the important roles" This is a common mistake. Phrases "one of" and "some of" must always be followed by a plural noun if the noun is countable because if there is only one of the item, there is no way we refer to it as "one of it."
"covered the applause"
⇒ "stepped on the applause" The speaker was talking about someone starting to speak before the applause died down.
"totally"
⇒ "finally" This word was used to conclude a report. The word "totally" has a similar meaning to "entirely" and is not used as a discourse marker.
"two information"
⇒ "some information" or two pieces of information"
The word "information" is an uncountable noun and requires another word like "piece" to count it. It's similar to "a cup of coffee," "a slice of bread," and "a piece of cake."
"keep notes"
⇒ "take notes"
Pronunciation and stress
Instead of PROJector, we say proJECtor.
Instead of /ou/ vowel, we use the same vowel of "caught" for "applause"
Instead of HIStorical, we say hisTORical
Instead of COMmittee, we say comMITtee
Instead of /ou/ vowel, we use the same vowel of "hot" for "cost"
Instead of CONtrol, we say conTROL
Hope this helps!