Grammarian / Word of the Day

Taking on this role improves vocabulary, grammar, critical listening skills and evaluation skills The grammarian plays an important role in helping all club members improve their grammar and vocabulary. As grammarian you: • Introduce new words to meeting participants and monitor language and grammar usage. • Write down the language and grammar usage of all speakers, noting incomplete sentences, mispronunciations, grammatical mistakes, non-sequiturs, malapropisms, etc. Example: “One in five children wear glasses” should be “one in five children wears glasses.” • At the end of the meeting, give your complete report when called on. • Optional: Introduce a “Word of the Week” that helps meeting participants increase their vocabulary; display the word, part of speech, and a brief definition with a visual aid and prepare a sentence showcasing how the word should be used. Note who uses this word or any derivatives thereof correctly or incorrectly during the meeting.

GRAMMARIAN / WORD OF THE DAY SCRIPT

When introduced by the General Evaluator, please state the following: “Mister/Madam Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, and Guests,

I have a dual role today.

I have the responsibility to introduce a ‘Word’ to the club, which I will challenge everyone to use correctly in a sentence when you have the opportunity to speak. For the Word of the Day, my job is to keep track of who uses the word of the day. Today’s word of the day is: (GIVE PART OF SPEECH, DEFINITION AND USE THE WORD OF THE DAY IN A SENTENCE) • This word is a:

• The definition is:

• Sentence:

“As the Grammarian, my job is to: • Listen for and record interesting words and phrases • Misuse of the English language. • Awkward use or incorrect grammar • Incomplete sentences or sentences that change direction midstream • And I will look for Creative Language usage At the end of the meeting I will give a Word of the Day/Grammarian Report Thank you, (insert name of General Evaluator).”

Grammarian Worksheet Also includes a field for Word of the Day

Reports:

Grammarian worksheet. Download to track word usage during the meeting. This worksheet also includes a field to write down the Word of the Day usage.

Here are some links to help in choosing the Word of the Day, http://www.rinkworks.com/words/funwords.shtml https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2021/mar/toolbox-word-of-the-day https://www.toastmasters.org/Magazine/Articles/Whats-the-Word

The Toastmaster President also has word cards that can be checked out.

Word of the day can also align with the Theme of the Meeting.