Prescott tops literacy rogues' gallery

HE MAY be the second most powerful man in the country, but apparently he cannot string a sentence together. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, has once again been voted worst offender when it comes to crimes against the English language.

Such classic linguistic faux pas as "the sceptre of unemployment [is] stalking the North-east" made Mr Prescott the winner in a survey of literary luminaries.

The award will come as little surprise to Mr Prescott, who once told a Labour Party gathering: "I'll spell it out in sentences that even I can understand."

And, as the outspoken politician steels himself for another round of lampooning by the "snobs", he can at least console himself that the boss has not done much better.

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, achieved second place,ahead of "babbling" television and radio presenters such as Zoe Ball and Chris Evans. The Prime Minister was attacked for being "falsely peppy, sincere and young".

Mr Blair's Conservative opponents have no room for complacency. The former prime minister Baroness Thatcher was deemed bad enough to merit fourth position (behind Bill Clinton), while William Hague, the Tory leader, came in at number five.

The Collins Concise Dictionary survey asked more than 100 well-known broadcasters, writers and politicians to list their grammatical betes noires and the worst offenders.

A mixed bag of well-known names - from Vanessa Feltz to Martin Amis - responded with their pet hates and comments.

Topping the list of shame were Mr Prescott, Mr Blair, Mr Clinton and Baroness Thatcher. Jonathan Ross, Tony Banks, Frank Dobson and Chris Tarrant also rated a mention.

The media came under criticism, with 90 per cent insisting it could do better. The Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, said: "Many football commentators are knowingly and gratuitously illiterate." Weathermen and women were slated for using pauses which fly "in the face of syntax and meaning".

The newsreader Jon Snow, however, defended his media colleagues. "I think English is a constantly evolving language and I appreciate the development of new adjectives."

Politically correct language was slated by many, with 59 per cent saying it had gone too far.

Despite their generally scathing attacks on abuse of the English language, the celebrity respondents had a far from unblemished record. Only four of those taking part correctly completed a spelling test - the shadow Home Secretary, Ann Widdecombe, and the authors Margaret Forster, Shena Mackay and Frank Delaney.

The 100 celebrities, who failed to achieve perfect spelling scores were unwilling to reveal their identities - an unsurprising fact, particularly as four of them had boasted of perfection before failing to score 10 out of 10.

Guilty Of Crimes Against The English Language

Tony Blair

Uses verbless sentences, barbarisms, calculated vagueness and "easy- speak".

William Hague

Attacked for speaking in cliches and making poor use of English.

Chris Evans

Described as babbling in a hysterical stream of consciousness.

Zoe Ball

Uses extraordinary vowels and fails properly to enunciate ends of words.

Frank Dobson

Berated for using "different to" instead of "different from".

Chris Tarrant

Censured for using the singular in "I'll give you five hundred pound".

Check Your Spelling Here

HERE IS the spelling test compiled by Collins Dictionaries. Underline the correct spelling:

miniscule, minuscule, miniscool, minniscule.

rarefy, rarifie, rarify, rarefie.

resusitate, resucitate, rescusitate, resuscitate.

innoculate, innocuelate, inocculate, inoculate.

mocassin, moccasin, moccassin, mocassine.

desicate, dessicate, dessiccate, desiccate.

sacreligious, sacriligious, sacrilegious, sacrelegious.

impressario, impresario, inpresario, impresarrio.

supersede, supercede, superseed, superceed.

concensus, consencus, consensis, consensus.

Below are the correct versions:

minuscule, rarefy, resuscitate, inoculate, moccasin, desiccate, sacrilegious, impresario, supersede, consensus.