Do you hesitate speaking up in meetings or spend too much time perfecting an email over the fear of committing grammatical errors or mispronouncing words? There’s so much bad English everywhere—in mass media, social media, business correspondence, and even everyday conversations. With Taglish taking over as our lingua franca, AI doing all the writing, and the prevalent smart-shaming of English speakers, does being fluent and articulate in English and upholding high grammatical standards still hold weight? Can communicating clearly and confidently in English still level up your life and career?

Tik Tok’s “Grammar Nazi,” a.k.a “Pepe Word Smith” weighs in. With over 1 million followers on social media, he creates content to provide free, innovative, and unconventional English lessons to Filipinos. A former corporate executive for industry giants like HSBC, Globe Telecom, GCash, and Home Credit, he now does one-and-one English coaching, teaches courses in IELTS ( International English Language Testing System) proficiency and has a column in The Manila Times called “Grammarama.”