Examining the WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 20 March 2020 (Source)
The standards of written language, such as punctuation and capitalization, were spelt out in a precise manner throughout the entire text, correct pronouns were used, and it had the feature of effective language that used formal and informal wording. The message is clear and well-organized, the assertion is focused and well-explained, the language is effective and uses both formal and informal wording, and the content is appropriately formed. It’s a fantastic notion to construct and develop the proof, cases, details, and facts one by one in the text. Every scenario and example can be used to demonstrate coherence. Everything has a meaning and a lesson to teach.
Negative/s and Suggestions for Improvement
Some phrases are not detailed and specific, some phrases are not well-organized, and other expressions or terms used were not intelligible for everyone. In some parts, the message is incomprehensible, some words are casual, and others are not, with the use of shortened words or abbreviations, others may get confused, and they use a few unfamiliar words. There are no appropriate modifiers in some of the sentences, there was a lack of explanation for several of the specifics, the abbreviations’ meanings were not explained, and the speech isn’t well-structured. I think that if they use the characteristic of effective language, which is the formal and informal language, they should stick to either of the two instead of using both since it may lead to confusion for the others, I suggest they could have used familiar words since not everyone has a wide vocabulary and will understand the term used instead of intricate words. Read again carefully before publishing to make sure there aren’t any errors, avoid using words that are repeated, and use more formal language.
B. Organization, Coherence and Cohesion
Positive/s
In the World Health Organization or WHO remarks about the coronavirus 19, the organization is one of the properties of well-written text present in this statement. The paragraphs were well organized and logically arranged. Furthermore, it contains the topic of Coronavirus 19 or known as a covid-19, and was focused on the subject. In addition, most of the phrases were concise and vividly explained. The importance of features of the organized text was applied in the announcement, such as focus, adequate development, and unity. From the beginning until the end, the main center of the statement discussed was all about the matter targeted by the Directors-General of the World Health Organization. As stated in the text in the beginning, “Every day, COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone.” In the supporting sentences, it is stated that “Every day, we are learning more about this virus and the disease it causes. One of the things we are learning is that although older people are the hardest hit, younger people are not spared.” Additionally, “During this difficult time, it’s important to continue looking after your physical and mental health. This will not only help you in the long-term, it will also help you fight COVID-19 if you get it,” is written in the text. It was constant that until the end of the statement was about the same issue. As reported by the Directors-general, “COVID-19 is taking so much from us. But it’s also giving us something special-the opportunity to come together as one humanity- to work together, to learn together, to grow together.” In addition to the focus, this text has transitional words or signal devices for the sentence to be more organized. In addition, be more intelligible for the readers. As mentioned by the WHO generals-director, “First, eat a health and nutritious diet, which helps your immune system to function properly. Second, limit your alcohol consumption and avoid sugary drinks.” With the help of these transition words, the flow of the sentences was smooth. Lastly, the statement has cohesion, in which capitalizations and punctuations are used properly.
Negative/s and Suggestions for Improvement
Despite the fact that most of the text was organized, a few paragraphs in the statement are not accurately used, such as there are some phrases that words were used frequently. I suggest using synonyms to improve the quality of the work and reduce repetitions. Furthermore, in some phrases, the proper parallel structure was not applied. It was mentioned in the text, “As you know, the collapse of the market for personal protective equipment has created extreme difficulties in ensuring health workers have access to the equipment they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.” In my opinion, using the proper parallel construction to balance the sentence and enhance the work.
C. Language Use
Positive/s
In the opening remarks of the World Health Organization’s General-director, use proper words. Most of the expressions used in his statement fit the need of its reader. Few phrases were formal, and some were not, like the phrase, “Today, I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks, or even kill you,” is formal for using “I have” instead of making it short like “I’ve.” In addition, in his closing speech, his way of being thankful is too formal. As he stated, “I thank you.” In addition to having a formal structure, WHO’s director uses concrete and concise words in his remarks.
According to him, “Data from many countries clearly show that people under 50 make up a significant proportion of patients requiring hospitalization.” He specified that the adults aged below fifty are the ones in need of care and treatment.
Negative/s and Suggestions for Improvement
A few downsides included in the statement are the use of technical language or jargon. The main subject of the statement was the regard of the COVID-19, which everyone should have knowledge of. With the use of unfamiliar words, the audience might cause confusion and would not be able to appreciate the message of the statement. In my opinion, they should have used straightforward expressions or words since not everyone has the same vocabulary levels. Especially the topic is for every age some children would find it difficult to understand if the phrase is professional instead of simple. In the middle of the statement, one of the words used is “inevitable,” which is not one of the basic terminologies. In addition, the one mentioned of both using formal and informal structure. In my opinion, he, the WHO’s director, should have used neither formal nor informal rather than using both. Lastly, the use of slang and abbreviations. Most of the phrases have the word “WHO,” which stands for “World Health Organization.” I found this negative since people might get confused if it is only the abbreviation.
D. Mechanics
Positive/s
The use of proper capitalization in the text was accurate such as pronoun capitalization, capitalization of personal titles, and capitalization of the first letter in the sentences. As stated by the director, “Just in the past few days I’ve spoken with the International Chamber of Commerce, with many CEOs through the World Economic Forum, and with the “B20” group of business leaders from the G20 countries.” Furthermore, the proper use of the comma, semicolon, and period was applied appropriately. At every end of the sentences, there was the right use of periods. One of the examples is, “During this difficult time, it’s important to continue looking after your physical and mental health. This will not only help you in the long-term, it will also help you fight COVID-19 if you get it.” In addition, the use of the comma when it has a sequence of words such as, “first,” “second,” and “third.” According to the text, “First, eat a health and nutritious diet, which helps your immune system to function properly. Second, limit your alcohol consumption, and avoid sugary drinks.”
Negative/s and Suggestions for Improvement
One of the negative sides present in the text is the use of spelling, other words are spelled American and the other is British words; a few examples are “neighbor” and “neighbour.” I suggest sticking either of the two for the audience not to be confused. Moreover, although most of the phrase’s commas and periods were correct, there are a few sentences in that commas are not applied properly. One of the examples is, “Supporting other people in your community can help you as much as it does them. Check in on neighbours, family and friends. Compassion is a medicine.” I suggest putting a comma before the word “and,” and putting a hyphen in between the word “check” and “in. Lastly is the use of abbreviations. In the text, the word “WHO” was used frequently. It stands for World Health Organization. In my perspective, we should use the whole meaning rather than the abbreviation since it might lead to confusion for some audiences.
III. Conclusion
The speech is all about the disease Covid-19 but there is more than that. The speech doesn’t only talk about the problem we experience this pandemic and how we should manage to do this. The speech also talked about how Covid-19 helped us, how that disease taught us to be united. The disease helped us to work, learn and grow together. No matter how hard the situation is, we managed to help one another. The text has proper punctuation, capitalization and is well organized for a speech. As a STEM student, after reading this speech, I have learned much in terms of the said pandemic as what the speech is discussing because we focus on Science and Technology that has certain connections with the speech.