Briones tells student journos to sharpen elementary grammar, spelling

PANGASINAN, Philippines — Education Secretary Leonor Briones reiterated on Monday the need to teach students with “sharp” elementary grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Speaking before campus journalists attending the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) in Lingayen, Briones said that a comma, a semicolon, and a question mark, can change an “entire meaning of a sentence or the message you are trying to convey.”

“Napapansin ko na ang ating conference is both in English and in Filipino. Siguro napapansin din ninyo, napapansin ng inyong mga teachers na kailangan pa natin ng dagdag na pagsharpen ng ating elementary grammar, ng ating spelling, ng ating punctuation marks,” she said.

“And maraming nakakapansin, na maski na sa libro, napakaraming grammatical error. And ito, tine-take for granted natin dahil hinahalo natin ang Filipino, ang Bisaya, ang Waray, at English in many of the things that we write about,” she added.

Briones also urged young scribes to always seek the truth, to differentiate real information from falsehood and to distinguish journalism from propaganda.

“A journalist, first and foremost, should have correct grammar, correct usage, correct spelling, correct punctuation marks,” the education chief said.

Briones graced the kickoff of NSPC 2019, the largest campus journalism event in the country organized annually by DepEd in pursuant to Republic Act 7079 or the Campus Journalism Act of 1991.  /muf