If you had to take a shouting test would you pass with
flying colors? The answer to that question would depend on what you're being
graded on. If you're being graded on who could shout the loudest then maybe you
will stand a chance, but what if you're being graded on your grammar? Today in
my basic news class my fellow classmates and I were given the wonderful
opportunity to take this test using our own obituaries! As depressing as that
sounds it became more comical than I originally imagined it to be. Death can be
a very terrifying thought that we tend to shy away from unless we have to deal
with it directly. In this case death was the last of my worries. When I was
called upon by my professor to read my obituary, I found myself squirming to
find and fix my own errors at the last minute as if I had never read it. In the
beginning of class our professor briefly explained to us the importance of the
shouting test that Ben Yogada talked about in his book How to Not Write Bad:
The Most Common Writing Problems and the best ways to avoid them. As we
continued on with this exercise my classmates and I learned the importance of
training you ear to hear these common mistakes. I can still see my professor
standing in front of the classroom pointing to her ear as we each read allowed
our assignments. The shouting test can be the determiner of life or death when
it comes to grammar, so hopefully the person who writes my obituary reads this
blog post! Therefore don't be afraid to read anything aloud. Even if you have to
shout it out! My one thing for the week of Jan 21st is don't be afraid to
shout!
