๐ฏ๐ถ๐พ ๐ป๐ถ ๐จ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ซ ๐ด๐จ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐น๐จ๐ด๐ด๐จ๐ป๐ฐ๐ช๐จ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐บ๐ป๐จ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐บ ๐ซ๐ผ๐น๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช ๐บ๐ท๐ฌ๐จ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ
Tunde had just received one of the biggest news in his career. He had been invited as one of the keynote speakers at an upcoming event. The event would be graced by the biggest names in his industry.
This would be his first time speaking physically to a large audience. He wondered if he'd be able to deliver and make an impact. His worst fear is of making grammatical mistakes during his delivery.
Are you like Tunde? Do you have fears that you might make grammatical mistakes when asked to speak publicly? If so, it is my sincerest hope that this post benefits you.
A Nigerian adage says, "A war that has been foretold in advance would not take the life of a crippled man," well that is if the crippled man acts in wisdom by fleeing the area long before the war erupts.
You'd clearly remember the saying, "Forewarned is forearmed." Knowing that there's a probability of making grammatical mistakes should motivate you to prepare beforehand.
It's not like getting to the bridge before crossing it, but more of making actual plans on how to cross the bridge even before getting there.
With that being said, it is high time we discussed tips on how to avoid making grammatical mistakes when speaking in public.
Some of the tips are before getting to the stage while others are applied right there on the stage.
Let's go!
1. Read English texts: What better way is there to improve your grammar than reading? Reading English books, newspapers and magazines help you become familiar with many English words and their meanings.
You'd be able to know how such words are used and in what context they can best be applied.
Have a dictionary. Use it to find the meaning of words and see examples of sentences where the words are used.
You can also get a thesaurus, this provides you with synonyms. Of course, when you speak, you're giving out what you've stored inside. If you've read good English books, it will reflect in your spoken English.
2. Watch English films: You need to watch English films to learn how efficient communication is carried out. I'll advise that you watch the films with the subtitles on.
3. Practice having long conversations with people in English: Go out and speak with people. Have long conversations with them in English. The more you do that, the better your grammar skill will become.
4. Record or video yourself making a presentation. Afterwards, show it to your friend (or to someone else) who is proficient in the English language. Tell him to show you the grammar mistakes you made and to correct you.
Do not feel little of yourself if he shows you all the mistakes. We all like to feel good about ourselves knowing that we've done very well, but if someone was to tell us that we made a lot of mistakes, it can be disheartening.
Don't look down on the correction being made. Apply it instead and you'll see that you'd have fewer problems with grammar on stage.
5. Watch good public speakers when they speak: If you want to be the best, you need to learn from the best. Learn from their use of words.
Attend free events where they'll be performing. Attend paid events where they'll be speaking. Watch them on TV or online. Their use of grammar would be of great help to you.
6. Attend English language classes. This can be physical or online.
7. Buy English grammar textbooks and study them.
The points above are some of the things you can do years, months, weeks and days before climbing that stage.
What about when you're right there on the stage? What can help you avoid grammatical mistakes?
1. Avoid trying to impress the audience with "big grammar": This could be your undoing. Trying to pull off a Patrick Obahiagbon or Fadda the Grammarian might be shooting yourself in the foot. Use simple terms. Instead of saying, "Birds of a feather flock together," you decided to say, "Ornithological specimens of identical plumage congregate within the same proximity."
The sentence above is correct. The problem, apart from your audience finding it hard to understand, is that you might mistakenly make some grammatical mistakes while saying it especially when you forget one of the words to use.
Again, use simple terms. Using simple terms minimizes the risk of making mistakes.
2. Subject-Verb agreement: When speaking in public, you need to be conscious of the subject-verb agreement. When a subject is singular, the verb would be singular and when the subject is plural, the verb would be plural.
The interesting part here is that, unlike nouns, singular verbs often take an "s" in the present tense, while there is usually no "s" in plural verbs.
Here are a few examples:
John writes well.
They write well.
She knows my name.
They know my name.
Kindly note that the words "everyone," "nobody," "everything," "somebody" etc. usually go with a singular verb.
Examples:
Nobody knows tomorrow.
Everyone is here.
3. Tautologies: These are unnecessary repetitions of words. Sometimes, tautologies are used to lay emphasis, but in most cases, it's best to avoid them
Here are some examples:
Large crowd. "Large" isn't needed because a crowd means a large number of people.
Reverse back. When you " reverse," you go back. There's no need to add "back" to it.
Night vigil. "Vigil" takes place at a time when you ought to be sleeping which is at night. So adding "night" to it is unnecessary.
I sincerely hope the points above will be of great benefit to you as you mount that stage.
My name is Humble Ogbonna , and more than anything else, I'll love to see you on that stage.
Tunde had just received one of the biggest news in his career. He had been invited as one of the keynote speakers at an upcoming event. The event would be graced by the biggest names in his industry.
This would be his first time speaking physically to a large audience. He wondered if he'd be able to deliver and make an impact. His worst fear is of making grammatical mistakes during his delivery.
Are you like Tunde? Do you have fears that you might make grammatical mistakes when asked to speak publicly? If so, it is my sincerest hope that this post benefits you.
A Nigerian adage says, "A war that has been foretold in advance would not take the life of a crippled man," well that is if the crippled man acts in wisdom by fleeing the area long before the war erupts.
You'd clearly remember the saying, "Forewarned is forearmed." Knowing that there's a probability of making grammatical mistakes should motivate you to prepare beforehand.
It's not like getting to the bridge before crossing it, but more of making actual plans on how to cross the bridge even before getting there.
With that being said, it is high time we discussed tips on how to avoid making grammatical mistakes when speaking in public.
Some of the tips are before getting to the stage while others are applied right there on the stage.
Let's go!
1. Read English texts: What better way is there to improve your grammar than reading? Reading English books, newspapers and magazines help you become familiar with many English words and their meanings.
You'd be able to know how such words are used and in what context they can best be applied.
Have a dictionary. Use it to find the meaning of words and see examples of sentences where the words are used.
You can also get a thesaurus, this provides you with synonyms. Of course, when you speak, you're giving out what you've stored inside. If you've read good English books, it will reflect in your spoken English.
2. Watch English films: You need to watch English films to learn how efficient communication is carried out. I'll advise that you watch the films with the subtitles on.
3. Practice having long conversations with people in English: Go out and speak with people. Have long conversations with them in English. The more you do that, the better your grammar skill will become.
4. Record or video yourself making a presentation. Afterwards, show it to your friend (or to someone else) who is proficient in the English language. Tell him to show you the grammar mistakes you made and to correct you.
Do not feel little of yourself if he shows you all the mistakes. We all like to feel good about ourselves knowing that we've done very well, but if someone was to tell us that we made a lot of mistakes, it can be disheartening.
Don't look down on the correction being made. Apply it instead and you'll see that you'd have fewer problems with grammar on stage.
5. Watch good public speakers when they speak: If you want to be the best, you need to learn from the best. Learn from their use of words.
Attend free events where they'll be performing. Attend paid events where they'll be speaking. Watch them on TV or online. Their use of grammar would be of great help to you.
6. Attend English language classes. This can be physical or online.
7. Buy English grammar textbooks and study them.
The points above are some of the things you can do years, months, weeks and days before climbing that stage.
What about when you're right there on the stage? What can help you avoid grammatical mistakes?
1. Avoid trying to impress the audience with "big grammar": This could be your undoing. Trying to pull off a Patrick Obahiagbon or Fadda the Grammarian might be shooting yourself in the foot. Use simple terms. Instead of saying, "Birds of a feather flock together," you decided to say, "Ornithological specimens of identical plumage congregate within the same proximity."
The sentence above is correct. The problem, apart from your audience finding it hard to understand, is that you might mistakenly make some grammatical mistakes while saying it especially when you forget one of the words to use.
Again, use simple terms. Using simple terms minimizes the risk of making mistakes.
2. Subject-Verb agreement: When speaking in public, you need to be conscious of the subject-verb agreement. When a subject is singular, the verb would be singular and when the subject is plural, the verb would be plural.
The interesting part here is that, unlike nouns, singular verbs often take an "s" in the present tense, while there is usually no "s" in plural verbs.
Here are a few examples:
John writes well.
They write well.
She knows my name.
They know my name.
Kindly note that the words "everyone," "nobody," "everything," "somebody" etc. usually go with a singular verb.
Examples:
Nobody knows tomorrow.
Everyone is here.
3. Tautologies: These are unnecessary repetitions of words. Sometimes, tautologies are used to lay emphasis, but in most cases, it's best to avoid them
Here are some examples:
Large crowd. "Large" isn't needed because a crowd means a large number of people.
Reverse back. When you " reverse," you go back. There's no need to add "back" to it.
Night vigil. "Vigil" takes place at a time when you ought to be sleeping which is at night. So adding "night" to it is unnecessary.
I sincerely hope the points above will be of great benefit to you as you mount that stage.
My name is Humble Ogbonna , and more than anything else, I'll love to see you on that stage.