SIR – It would appear that Rita Robertshaw prefers a prescriptive interpretation of language and has offered some examples of the apparent misuse of English (T&A letters, February 24).
It needs to be realised that what is understood as standard language is merely an agreed convention, based on a particular dialect. In the case of English the dialect of the London area was used as a basis of what we accept as standard English. Other regional variations are legitimate forms of expression, such as the Yorkshire dialect. It is worth noting that many rules from Latin have been inappropriately applied to English, such as not splitting an infinitive.
In Latin an infinitive is expressed as one word such as sperare, meaning to hope and therefore it is impossible to split. However in English this is expressed with a preposition preceding the verb and could be split.
Language is a changing phenomenon reflecting changing circumstances. We have only to compare Anglo-Saxon with the language of Chaucer, then Shakespeare, Dickens and contemporary English to appreciate the extent of the changes.
Alec Suchi, Allerton Road, Bradford
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