Letter: The language of change

The language

of change

Sir: It might (or may) surprise Walter Roberts ("Grammarians weep! The bell tolls for `whom' ", 14 June) to learn that academics of English linguistics have a rather more enlightened attitude than he does. Most of them readily accept that language changes and see these changes as a rich and fascinating phenomenon.

Whether these changes become common parlance is not up to (or down to) Mr Roberts. And it is certainly not a matter for the Oxford University Press. It is something that we, the users of the language, decide by common consent when using our language.

RICHARD MACANDREW

Caversham, Berkshire