A site on epilepsy...

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

Hi Mike,

Please understand that I say this as someone who used to teach English as a second language at the university level.

Is your first language English? If so (or not), where were you raised? Do you speak any other languages as well?

The reason I ask is that there are several instances on your site where the word usage is not exactly wrong but it just sounds odd.

For example in your article about what to do if you see a person having a seizure, you refer to "the singular" meaning the person having the seizure. I think you mean "the individual". Singular would not be used in this context.
 
Hi Mike,

Please understand that I say this as someone who used to teach English as a second language at the university level.

Is your first language English? If so (or not), where were you raised? Do you speak any other languages as well?

The reason I ask is that there are several instances on your site where the word usage is not exactly wrong but it just sounds odd.

For example in your article about what to do if you see a person having a seizure, you refer to "the singular" meaning the person having the seizure. I think you mean "the individual". Singular would not be used in this context.

How come I've had many likes on that article mentioned, about what to do if you see a person having a seizure. Whatever!
 
Looks good to me mspang, thanks for sharing your link.
 
I was not saying anything against the article content, Mike.

And you didn't answer my question.

You asked for honest feedback (at least I thought that's what you wanted).
To me, the content is very good but it reads like it needs a native English speaking copy editor.

You talk about a person "damaging" themselves in a seizure. The word damage is for inanimate objects. People get injured not damaged.

Sorry for trying to help.
 
I was not saying anything against the article content, Mike.

And you didn't answer my question.

You asked for honest feedback (at least I thought that's what you wanted).
To me, the content is very good but it reads like it needs a native English speaking copy editor.

You talk about a person "damaging" themselves in a seizure. The word damage is for inanimate objects. People get injured not damaged.

Sorry for trying to help.

I think mspang's information is still clear to anyone reading it! I see FAR worse mis-uses of words on internet sites than mspang's. I think he should be hugely thanked for taking the time to post his helpful information.
 
mspang deserves lot of credit for spending time in developing the website. Not an easy job but mspang did it. Thank you very much. What are you using for your website - Joomla or Drupal?

AlohaBird also spent lot of time reading your articles. She wants your website to be one among the best websites on seizures and epilepsy. Usually, folks do not provide feedback for fear of upsetting others. AlohaBird's feedback is very constructive.

The best hardly comes out in the first effort. We read again and then catch the error and correct it. This cycle gets repeated a few times and then we have an acceptable draft of our writeup.

My own writing has become pretty sloppy over the last 10-15 years and numerous punctuation and grammatical errors have crept in. Grammatical errors are made by lot of native speakers too.


Both mspang and AlohaBird deserve lot of applause from all of us.
 
I was not saying anything against the article content, Mike.

And you didn't answer my question.

You asked for honest feedback (at least I thought that's what you wanted).
To me, the content is very good but it reads like it needs a native English speaking copy editor.

You talk about a person "damaging" themselves in a seizure. The word damage is for inanimate objects. People get injured not damaged.

Sorry for trying to help.

I think all this you mentioned was totally unnecessary. ("Is your first language English? If so (or not), where were you raised? Do you speak any other languages as well?") Not sure what your point was.
 
OK, OK. I'm a big meanie. That's a given.

I thought Mike was looking not just for compliments but for actual feedback that might help to improve his site.

Sorry Mike, but this is a quote from your post about what to do if you see someone having a seizure.

"4. Keep the singular’s aviation route open."

Huh?

To those of us who know something about epilepsy it is clear that you are talking about keeping the person's airway open.
To someone who knew nothing about epilepsy, the above might not be clear at all.

"Aviation" is a general term that has to do with airplanes and helicopters, not breathing.

I am not just talking about points of style here. I am talking about having critical information be in a form where it can be understood.

There is a big difference between aviation and airway.

But if you just want compliments.................
 
Question everyone. Does anyone see Liftware on the screen when you click on my site www.seizuretalk.com? Just found about that a couple days ago which helps shakiness when eating. Has anybody ever tried that?
 
AlohaBird, there isn't anything wrong with constructive criticism, but your initial comments were directed at Mike personally and not just to the issue with grammar on the website. Let's try to keep it friendly here.

Mike, I don't know what you are referring to when you mention Liftware. Are you referring to an ad that is on the page?
 
AlohaBird, there isn't anything wrong with constructive criticism, but your initial comments were directed at Mike personally and not just to the issue with grammar on the website. Let's try to keep it friendly here.

Mike, I don't know what you are referring to when you mention Liftware. Are you referring to an ad that is on the page?

There should be epileptic ads on the site and a lot of times Liftware is supposed to be one. Unfortunately though, a lot of times all these ads are non epilepsy-related.

Thanks for the comment you made to AlohaBird.
 
"Aviation" is a general term that has to do with airplanes and helicopters, not breathing.

I am not just talking about points of style here. I am talking about having critical information be in a form where it can be understood.

There is a big difference between aviation and airway.

Excuse me. I do have epilepsy and I used to be married to a person who was in the aviation business, a pilot in other words. Plus, I have a son who had a severe case of asthma when he was growing up. So, I understand what Aloha is saying and I understand what mspang is saying, too.

For both of you, here is a bit of info from www.aviationglossary.com:

Airway: An airway is based on a centerline that extends from one navigation aid or intersection to another navigation aid (or through several navigation aids or intersections); used to establish a known route for en route procedures between terminal areas.

mspang said:
Question everyone. Does anyone see Liftware on the screen when you click on my site www.seizuretalk.com? Just found about that a couple days ago which helps shakiness when eating. Has anybody ever tried that?

I didn't see "Liftware" when I clicked on your website and I have never heard of it, so never tried it.
 
AlohaBird, there isn't anything wrong with constructive criticism, but your initial comments were directed at Mike personally and not just to the issue with grammar on the website. Let's try to keep it friendly here.
I never criticized the person. Ever.
It was my job, my career to help people who are using English as a second language be understood. That's all I was trying to do. Help.

Do you want people who know nothing about epilepsy to be reading something for advice that tells them to keep the aviation route open?

It needed to be said. If that makes me the bad guy, so be it.

I would even offer to Mike my services for free to improve the wording. I say this as as someone who also used to get paid to copy edit translated technical manuals.
But since my help only gets thrown back in my face, as Mike said, "whatever".
 
OK, OK. I'm a big meanie. That's a given.

I thought Mike was looking not just for compliments but for actual feedback that might help to improve his site.

Sorry Mike, but this is a quote from your post about what to do if you see someone having a seizure.

"4. Keep the singular’s aviation route open."

Huh?

To those of us who know something about epilepsy it is clear that you are talking about keeping the person's airway open.
To someone who knew nothing about epilepsy, the above might not be clear at all.

"Aviation" is a general term that has to do with airplanes and helicopters, not breathing.

I am not just talking about points of style here. I am talking about having critical information be in a form where it can be understood.

There is a big difference between aviation and airway.

But if you just want compliments.................

Hi AlohaBird,

You've actually helped me out in the past. So no biggy! :)

-Mike
 

Does anyone proof-read this for you before you actually post it on the internet? Like Eric pointed out:
However, medical conditions such as seizure can be a potential treat to this desire

Wow.... what is this treat you're talking about? :ponder:

Then we have:

People experiencing one or more therapeutic conditions are firmly encouraged to arrange nearly with their doctors so as to figure out whether they can drive or not.

Arrange what?
 
Back
Top Bottom