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OBAMA GRAMMAR: Using the President's Bloopers to Improve Your English
by William Proctor
William Proctor
OBAMA GRAMMAR: Using the President's Bloopers to Improve Your English
by William Proctor
William Proctor
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Overview
President Barack Obama has consistently been extolled as a great writer and wordsmith – but is this praise justified?
To be sure, the President’s oratory has at times been highly effective. Many cite his rousing speeches as a major factor in his election in 2008. But the ability to speak motivationally on occasion does not necessarily imply the ability to use good English – or to be a consistently great orator.
A dissection of President Obama’s speeches and remarks leads to the counterintuitive conclusion that the First Wordsmith is, in fact, an occasional stem-winder who is grammatically challenged – a failing that may in the end limit his ability to communicate at the highest level and to establish an enduring legacy in the upper tier of great presidents. (See the introduction to OBAMA GRAMMAR.)
In OBAMA GRAMMAR, William Proctor, a widely published author, editor and grammar consultant, has analyzed the grammar, usage and rhetoric in President Obama’s speeches and remarks over a one-year period. These presentations, which have been posted on the White House Web site, include approximately 3000 pages of written text.
Each speech excerpt containing various errors is reproduced as an example of “Obama Grammar.” Appropriate footnotes are included so that readers can go back and check the original text. Then the excerpt is corrected in a “Standard English” version. Finally, the reader gets an explanation of the mistakes and corrections in an “Analysis” section.
Readers can reap a number of benefits from this text: First, those wanting to improve their own grammar – and by implication their writing and speaking skills – will find a systematic approach to correcting common English language mistakes, which may be preventing them from becoming effective communicators. In addition, students studying for the SAT Writing test and the ACT English test will find helpful guidelines to avoid score-suppressing traps on those exams.
In fact, Proctor – the author, co-author or ghostwriter of more than 80 books, including several bestsellers – has dramatically raised the grammar and writing scores of many high school tutees, often by hundreds of points, through SAT and ACT tutorials. The 10 chapters in OBAMA GRAMMAR are based on his research. As a grammar expert, Proctor has developed a test-preparation program that features the most-tested grammar and usage categories on standardized college admissions tests. These categories include mistakes the president has made in such areas as subject-verb disagreement, nonparallel construction, pronoun misuse, dangling modifiers and poorly constructed sentences.
Still other benefits will inure to readers who are fascinated by presidential politics. The historical introduction to OBAMA GRAMMAR evaluates President Obama’s English skills in light of standards set by such oratorically gifted presidents as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy. The text also sets the record straight on high-profile pronunciation bloopers (and bloopers reported in the news media that weren’t really bloopers) by President Obama, former President George W. Bush, and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In addition, the reader will learn how the president’s grammatical blunders have sometimes actually caused him to say the opposite of what he meant in such significant speeches as a State of the Union address.
Finally, the book concludes with the “Great Obama Grammar Face-Off” – a challenge to the reader to find additional grammatical mistakes in the public remarks of President Obama and other political luminaries.
OBAMA GRAMMAR continues the public fascination with English mechanics that made "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss a runaway bestseller. But OBAMA GRAMMAR provides a unique twist as the only book that analyzes a U.S. president’s grammar and compares and contrasts that president’s English skills with those of previous presidents.
To be sure, the President’s oratory has at times been highly effective. Many cite his rousing speeches as a major factor in his election in 2008. But the ability to speak motivationally on occasion does not necessarily imply the ability to use good English – or to be a consistently great orator.
A dissection of President Obama’s speeches and remarks leads to the counterintuitive conclusion that the First Wordsmith is, in fact, an occasional stem-winder who is grammatically challenged – a failing that may in the end limit his ability to communicate at the highest level and to establish an enduring legacy in the upper tier of great presidents. (See the introduction to OBAMA GRAMMAR.)
In OBAMA GRAMMAR, William Proctor, a widely published author, editor and grammar consultant, has analyzed the grammar, usage and rhetoric in President Obama’s speeches and remarks over a one-year period. These presentations, which have been posted on the White House Web site, include approximately 3000 pages of written text.
Each speech excerpt containing various errors is reproduced as an example of “Obama Grammar.” Appropriate footnotes are included so that readers can go back and check the original text. Then the excerpt is corrected in a “Standard English” version. Finally, the reader gets an explanation of the mistakes and corrections in an “Analysis” section.
Readers can reap a number of benefits from this text: First, those wanting to improve their own grammar – and by implication their writing and speaking skills – will find a systematic approach to correcting common English language mistakes, which may be preventing them from becoming effective communicators. In addition, students studying for the SAT Writing test and the ACT English test will find helpful guidelines to avoid score-suppressing traps on those exams.
In fact, Proctor – the author, co-author or ghostwriter of more than 80 books, including several bestsellers – has dramatically raised the grammar and writing scores of many high school tutees, often by hundreds of points, through SAT and ACT tutorials. The 10 chapters in OBAMA GRAMMAR are based on his research. As a grammar expert, Proctor has developed a test-preparation program that features the most-tested grammar and usage categories on standardized college admissions tests. These categories include mistakes the president has made in such areas as subject-verb disagreement, nonparallel construction, pronoun misuse, dangling modifiers and poorly constructed sentences.
Still other benefits will inure to readers who are fascinated by presidential politics. The historical introduction to OBAMA GRAMMAR evaluates President Obama’s English skills in light of standards set by such oratorically gifted presidents as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy. The text also sets the record straight on high-profile pronunciation bloopers (and bloopers reported in the news media that weren’t really bloopers) by President Obama, former President George W. Bush, and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In addition, the reader will learn how the president’s grammatical blunders have sometimes actually caused him to say the opposite of what he meant in such significant speeches as a State of the Union address.
Finally, the book concludes with the “Great Obama Grammar Face-Off” – a challenge to the reader to find additional grammatical mistakes in the public remarks of President Obama and other political luminaries.
OBAMA GRAMMAR continues the public fascination with English mechanics that made "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss a runaway bestseller. But OBAMA GRAMMAR provides a unique twist as the only book that analyzes a U.S. president’s grammar and compares and contrasts that president’s English skills with those of previous presidents.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013427365 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Inkslingers Press, Inkslingers, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 09/24/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 95 KB |
About the Author
William Proctor, a graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude in American history) and Harvard Law School, has authored, coauthored or ghostwritten more than 80 books in a wide variety of fields, including health and fitness, business and investments, religion, personal motivation, politics, media bias and education. He is also the author of three novels.
Proctor’s books, which have sold more than 10 million copies in over 40 languages, include several international bestsellers and feature an 18-week appearance on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. His books have been recognized for many publishing industry awards, including the Templeton Foundation Book of Distinction award.
Publishers of Proctor’s books include Scribner, Avon, Bantam, Doubleday, McGraw-Hill, William Morrow, Thomas Nelson, Simon & Schuster, Times Books, Warner Books, Broadman & Holman, and others. His bylined articles, published as book excerpts or original assignments, have appeared in Reader’s Digest, Parade, Family Circle, Glamour, Redbook, the New York Daily News and other national publications.
A member of the Texas State Bar and a former reporter, legal correspondent and crime writer for the New York Daily News, Proctor has been a faculty member for the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Continuing Education and has served twice as guest lecturer on essay writing at Hanoi University in Vietnam. In 2011, he was guest lecturer on standardized test taking at a conference in Shanghai. He has been featured on hundreds of national and local radio, TV, Internet and print outlets, including Fox News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the Harvard Law Bulletin and the Columbia Journalism Review.
Proctor conducts English writing, grammar and usage seminars and tutorials for SAT/ACT prep through College Application Consultants, Inc. For further biographical information, see his Web site, www.WilliamProctor.com.
Proctor’s books, which have sold more than 10 million copies in over 40 languages, include several international bestsellers and feature an 18-week appearance on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. His books have been recognized for many publishing industry awards, including the Templeton Foundation Book of Distinction award.
Publishers of Proctor’s books include Scribner, Avon, Bantam, Doubleday, McGraw-Hill, William Morrow, Thomas Nelson, Simon & Schuster, Times Books, Warner Books, Broadman & Holman, and others. His bylined articles, published as book excerpts or original assignments, have appeared in Reader’s Digest, Parade, Family Circle, Glamour, Redbook, the New York Daily News and other national publications.
A member of the Texas State Bar and a former reporter, legal correspondent and crime writer for the New York Daily News, Proctor has been a faculty member for the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Continuing Education and has served twice as guest lecturer on essay writing at Hanoi University in Vietnam. In 2011, he was guest lecturer on standardized test taking at a conference in Shanghai. He has been featured on hundreds of national and local radio, TV, Internet and print outlets, including Fox News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the Harvard Law Bulletin and the Columbia Journalism Review.
Proctor conducts English writing, grammar and usage seminars and tutorials for SAT/ACT prep through College Application Consultants, Inc. For further biographical information, see his Web site, www.WilliamProctor.com.
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