Letter: An English fit only for elites

Ten years ago I retired to England from the United States, in despair at what my countrymen were doing to the English language, and in the belief that England was the last refuge of the stylistic purist. Now I must conclude that I was mistaken, for the Queen's English is not only fading away but is under attack in primary, secondary and even university teaching. John Honey's eagerness to entertain changes in usage fails to account for two underlying causes for the erosion of Standard English: the mad adoption in this country of American colloquialisms, and the universal ignorance of Latin grammar, upon which English grammar is based.

John McCormick

York