Grammarman Saves The Day!

This is definitely one of the more amusing (and creative!) educational videos I've seen.  It's all about a superhero named Grammarman and nosy aliens who save the city of Verbo from creepy creatures.

To encourage people to check their grammar, the creator intentionally threw in errors for viewers to spot.

Enjoy!

Bianca Writes From Massachusetts

Dear Grammar Project,

I'm a doctor from the Philippines and I'm here now in Massachusetts, trying my luck at getting a residency over here. I just wanted to share my thoughts about grammar and the medical field. Truly, one becomes a good doctor by being highly skilled and knowledgable about diseases and their treatment. Most of the time, English profiency (as well as Filipino proficiency) takes the backseat amidst all the things we already need to study. Somehow, even if your doctor has horrible grammar, if he treats you and you get well, who cares, right?

However, I've come to notice that having good grammar, speech skills and English proficiency are a definite plus in our field. When you have command of your language, you can easily explain all the medical mumbo-jumbo in layman's terms without missing a beat. It gives a doctor a definite edge if he or she can speak confidently in any given language.

From experience, I'm lucky to have been brought up in a bilingual household. I spoke purely in English until I went to grade school where I was exposed to Filipino. I believe I picked up quite well. Having mastery of these two languages helped me a lot during my med school years, especially when it came to dealing with patients. In my 4th year, we were exposed to the charity patients at UST who spoke only Tagalog. It was a struggle at first, explaining everything in Tagalog, but since I had a good background, I eased into it quickly. When I got to Makati Medical Center, most of the patients spoke in English and speaking the same language and speaking it well built rapport between myself and the patients quite rapidly.

When I got to the U.S. though, I silently thanked my parents and schools for teaching me good grammar. My accent is what you would call "neutralized" as I have a weird habit of picking up the accents of the people around me.

The last test of the US Medical Licensure Exam is a practical exam. There are twelve separate rooms with patients in them. Basically, we interview, examine and diagnose each patient in fifteen minutes. This is when my grammar and English skills were crucial, and it definitely made me a lot more confident when I was taking it. There were a couple of doctors of varied Asian and Middle Eastern origins also taking the exam, and I could see them struggling with their English. My seatmate, who was from the U.S., commented on how good my English was and that I didn't have an "Asian' accent.

As a whole, in medicine, content is really more important than grammar and language proficiency. However, in a place where your demographic is mostly English-speakers, proficiency and grammar are essential. It helps to build a doctor-patient relationship and it eventually leads to your patients trusting you more because they feel you're on their side.

Thanks a lot and I hope you guys at Grammar Project get more support because what you're doing is great!

-Bianca, M.D.

Passive Sentences and Diplomacy

This week's topic in Real Grammar class clarified the confusion surrounding the proper use of active and passive sentences. Hearing these terms can sometimes remind people of "yucky memories of school", as my friend so aptly puts it.

But if one knows how to maximize the use of the active and the passive voice, it can be as effective as being diplomatic with an erring company, or keeping your relationship free from stress.

Here are a few examples.

Active: Your office gave me a mobile phone that doesn't work.
Passive: A mobile phone was given to me by your office.

Active: You left the garbage bag sitting in the kitchen all night.
Passive: The garbage bag has been left sitting in the kitchen all night.

Active: Our school canceled classes due to H1N1.
Passive: Classes were canceled by our school due to H1N1.

Active: Krissy baked those biscuits last night.
Passive: Those biscuits were baked by Krissy last night.

Notice how the object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence.


There are many technical explanations why a person should or should not use the passive voice. Check out "English With Jennifer", a very thorough video that explains all the reasons for its purpose:



Based on my own observation, passive helps immensely when you want to be indirect to avoid confrontation, lessen the emotional impact of what you wish to convey and/or distance yourself from accountability for your statement. Of course there are occasions where you shouldn't beat around the bush and must go straight to the point and be direct, making the active voice appropriate. In my opinion, the idea of the active and passive sentences also gives writers and speakers an alternative for their technique in stringing words together.

Wife to husband, scenario 1:

"You did not pay the bills on time. How can you overlook this?"

Wife to husband, scenario 2:

"The bills have not been paid on time (wife's thought bubble: '...by you'). How can this be overlooked (wife's thought bubble: '...by you')?"

Diplomacy could save the day.

Word Check: "Watch Out" For The Announcement

A friend asked if it is appropriate to say "Watch out for the announcement" as it applies to people standing by for a concert, as opposed to "Watch for the announcement".

I was briefly stumped as I obsessed my own usage of the phrasal verb and decided to open http://www.dictionary.com/. The entries are as follows:

watch (wŏch) v.

1. To look or observe attentively or carefully; be closely observant: watching for trail markers.

2. To look and wait expectantly or in anticipation: watch for an opportunity.

3. To stay alert as a devotional or religious exercise; keep vigil.
4. Phrasal Verb(s): watch out-->To be careful or on the alert; take care.

Based on these explanations, perhaps "Watch out for our concert" has become a habit, albeit an erring practice in the grammatical sense. If, on the other hand, the concert will be revolutionary, earth-shaking and the type that will create a storm amongst fans, then "watch out" could be applied because maybe it means "this is going to change things" or "this will never happen again" in music history. Also, if there is something sketchy about the concert, like the possibility of getting trampled on, then "watch out" definitely fits the bill because more often than not, "watch out" is used as a warning. However, on an ordinary basis, like giving the heads-up for a typical seminar, or updates for an event, it would simply be fine to say "Watch for some updates and visit our blog".

Thoughts?