Letter from Ms. Nona Parulan Irwin in Australia (April 22, 2018):
April 22, 2018
Good morning, Dr. Carillo!
I am a 76-year-old Filipino Australian struggling to write and speak in correct, plain English (not perfect, as I believe that there is no such thing), as what is being taught (I believe so) in Australian schools. I love reading your e-mail every time it appears on my e-mail box, and I would like to tell you that I am learning a lot from your Forum.
Your articles on English grammar remind me of my English teachers from PCC High School (now PUP High school)—Mrs. Fe Domingo and the former Miss Diamante later Mrs. Martinez (forgot her first name)—and how they really, really taught us correct English both oral and written. Sadly, when I was under them, I had to struggle to come up to their expectations because of some impediments—not much time to study (I had to do house chores to earn my tuition), and no money to buy books that could enhance my knowledge of the English language. But I am glad to say that despite these impediments, I still was able to get a passing grade in my English subjects.
Now that I am in Australia, I noticed that even among authorities in the English language, correct writing and speaking of the Queen’s language are not deemed an important part of higher education. One can notice this even among the well-known newscasters, news journalists, and public speakers (like some politicians). They do not give much attention to their grammar. Example: You would hear some say, “I done that” when it should have been “I have (or had) done that.” And one would notice that some Australians are poor in spelling (they spell as they hear the word) and in punctuation.
For this reason, I would like to know if I could share on Facebook some of your articles, specifically “What’s deemed as proper English really only a matter of fashion.” Please understand that this is not a form of criticism. This is just to open the eyes of some people to something about the English language. I would appreciate your kind advice on this.
For your information, since receiving e-mail from your Forum, I have been saving articles of interest to me to be shared with others, especially to my nieces and friends who are in the teaching profession, hoping that they will in turn share with their pupils/students what they learned from your articles.
Thank you very much for your kind attention to my e-mail. Here’s wishing you more power in your work!
Gratefully,
Nona Parulan Irwin
P.S. Hope my English comes up to your standard. I would appreciate your critical advice.
My reply to Nona (April 28, 2018):Dear Nona,
I’m sorry to have taken almost a week to reply, having missed seeing your e-mail among a large bunch of commercial mail in this Gmail address, but I must tell you that I was truly delighted to read it last night when I came back to this e-mail address to send out my weekly mass-mailed Forum updates. It’s one of my greatest pleasures to read a well-composed, well-articulated letter from someone overseas of Filipino descent, one who’s highly capable of writing correct, plain, and unpretentious English yet deferentially admits it’s still a “struggle” to do so. Nona, I can tell you without batting an eyelash that your letter doesn’t sound like the product of such a struggle, but is in fact a pleasant outpouring of a mind perfectly at home with a second language that’s now very much like a well-mastered first language. For this achievement, I salute you and welcome you as a kindred soul in continuously aiming for greater mastery of English! Being so, surely you would be in a good position to also encourage others, both in Australia that’s now your home and in your native land the Philippines, to write and speak English better!
By all means, do share my articles in Jose Carillo’s English Forum on Facebook; the more articles you share, the better it will be for those wishing to improve their English! Better still, register with the Forum as a regular member so you can directly share your ideas about English usage and many other things under the sun, and so you can ask or answer any question that you may find of interest in its discussion boards. Just go to the
Forum Homepage and look for the Registration button; registration is free and it only takes a few minutes to do so. One more thing, Nona, you may want to also be my friend on Facebook so that through its Forum Gateway, you can regularly receive notices every time I make a Forum posting and share an interesting or thought-provoking article from leading publications around the world.
This will be all for now, Nona! Have a great weekend Down Under, if you’ll allow me to use that charmingly precise directional cliché from where I’m writing right now!
Sincerely yours,
Joe Carillo
P.S. With your permission, I’d like to post your letter in the Forum along with this reply of mine. I’m sure that Forum members will benefit from this initial exchange of ours. And one last thing: Please knock off the “Dr.” when addressing me. I’m neither academically nor medically a doctor, and I don’t mean that figuratively but literally!
