Club Roles: Grammarian
Taking on the role of Grammarian at a Toastmasters meeting offers a unique opportunity to enhance your listening skills while contributing to the meeting’s overall quality. Serving as part of the meeting’s evaluation team, you will be responsible for delivering a detailed report at the end, highlighting both errors and distinctive usages of grammar.
The Grammarian role not only sharpens your attention to detail but also serves as an excellent refresher for your own grasp of grammatical principles. Engaging in this capacity positions you to support the growth of your peers and elevate the overall standard of communication within your club.
As the Grammarian, your role encompasses selecting a Word of the Day, listening for both correct and incorrect grammar and vocabulary, and counting filler words. You will deliver your report from the lectern.
Prior to the meeting, choose a Word of the Day and prepare an A4 sheet with the word, its definition, and an example of its usage, making several copies. Before the meeting begins, distribute these copies around the tables for attendees to reference.
During the meeting, introduce the Word of the Day, explain its meaning, and provide sentences as examples. Inform attendees that you will be monitoring how frequently and accurately they use the word. While others speak, attentively listen for correct and interesting vocabulary, the use of the Word of the Day, and any filler words.
At the end of the meeting, deliver a comprehensive report on attendees’ use of grammar, vocabulary, the Word of the Day, and filler words.
Toastmasters International provides a script and log template for the Grammarian’s use.
The most effective grammarians adopt a comprehensive approach, considering the entirety of the speaker’s message in addition to the individual components. They emphasise how the speaker’s words convey the message, rather than focusing solely on minor grammatical errors. To excel in this role, prioritise positive feedback over negative. Highlight speakers who enhance their message with powerful language, encourage specificity and concreteness, and recognise vivid descriptions, apt metaphors, and engaging rhythms. Celebrate those who use language to animate their stories and employ gender-neutral terms to unite the audience.
Use the Toastmasters script and log to identify strong verbs and modifiers, unusual and creative phrases, mispronunciations, rhetorical devices (e.g. alliteration) and note those who used the Word of the Day.
When choosing your Word of the Day, consider words that are easy to say and more likely to be used. Adjectives and verbs are easier to incorporate in speeches than nouns. Choose from words that expand our vocabulary and will be useful in general speech well after the Toastmaster meeting has finished.
Suitable words may be found in any dictionary.
https://www.dictionary.com supplies its own Word of the Day which you may like to use. You could also keep a record of interesting words and meanings to expand your own vocabulary and refer to when taking on the Grammarian Role.
Check out this article on The Neuroscience Behind Memorising Vocabulary (For the Nerds) Published: July, 2023, by Lucas Weaver
Read how Griffin Campus Toastmasters Club (University of Georgia)celebrated their word of the day each time it was used.
https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2024/sep/grammarians-role
Research sources:
Toastmasters International: Description of Club Roles
The Grammarian’s Gift, Kate McClare DTM
