The Author

Photographic portrait of Roddy A. Stegemann
Roddy A. Stegemann

These pages and the adjoining lessons in applied grammar are the result of the encouragement of my former Saudi students and more than two decades of face-to-face teaching experience in eight countries on three continents including the Arabian peninsula. During this time I have taught students, both formally and informally, at nearly every level of education possible including senior primary, secondary, post-secondary, and tertiary. Although most of my students have been freshman and sophomore undergraduates, I have also taught graduate students, political, environmental, and market researchers in both the private and government sectors, corporate freshman, middle managers, and CEOs. Some of my students have also included security guards, clerical workers, grade school teachers, and a wide variety of technicians. Those whom I have not been able to teach are those who created the system that has given rise to the need for these pages. Some of the more important institutions where I have taught include the Overseas Division of University of Maryland in Tōkyō, Saitama (National) University in Saitama, Japan, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Research Division of Upper House of the Japanese Diet.  Also included are many lessor institutions such as Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, Udon Thani Rajabhat University in Udon Thani, Thailand, and a subsidiary of the Korea Herald, in Seoul and DaeJeon, Republic of Korea.

My formal degree training at the University of Michigan (A.B.) in Ann Arbor, the University of Oklahoma (M.A.) in Norman, and the University of Washington (M.A.) in Seattle is seconded by my university course certification from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, the University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France, the University of Tours in Tours, France, and the Faculty of Applied Languages, Johannes Gutenberg – Mainz University in Germersheim am Rhein, Germany. All of this formal training aside my most valuable training has been gathered in the field where I have sought to acquire the language and the culture of each of my host nations no matter their location and the situation in which I found myself when I was present. This effort has resulted in the acquisition of good oral and written fluency in French, German, and Japanese, as well as bits and pieces — some large and some small — in Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, and Spanish. Because of this effort my understanding of language in general, and the English language in particular is extraordinary.

These pages and the adjoining lessons are provided to you free of charge in the hope that you will make good use of them and share them with others. It is also my hope that you will give me a thumbs up whenever you agree that I have taught you something. For your support is what will make or break the success of this website.

Roddy A. Stegemann
July 2016, First Hill, Seattle