She got that one from James, so it's not her fault there. I live near Chatham, where James is from, and the grammar and speech patterns there, in general, are appalling. It's all innit and get off of.

I'm Welsh, but my son's picking up the Chatham/Kent/Sarf London accent and I swear there are only 50% of the consonants in his speech that there should be!

Ah but the Repetitive Strain Injury. Can I sue the BBC for compensation?

Yeah, exactly. You're likely to pick up the bad habits of whoever teaches you a language - especially if she's learnt it by immersion with James rather than lessons. She does speak very good English.

Man, you was so right.

That really made me laugh!

Like someone else said, I'm so glad I'm not the only pedant. If you haven't read the book "eats shoots and leaves" you really should if Alesha's grammar upsets you. It's such a relief to know I'm not the only one this grates on (or rather, "on whom this grates").

Up with this one will not put.

Know what really irritates me? Snobs on high horses!! I just wish they would get over themselves. This is obviously just another attempt to get at Alesha obviously.

People who feel so strongly about grammar and spelling go and teach, not preach.

LOL

Andy Williams wholeheartedly agrees that anything is ok on Strictly.

Don't you just hate that, I'm sure that a lot of folks think the 'of' is correct. It crops up everywhere on the net.

Sad to say but nobody cares any more, least of all the BBC whih used to be such a bastion of correctness in this respect. But when you have a corporation that actually thinks twitter is an important form of communication.....!

Would I be right in guessing that most of the people who object don't come from the London area? If so you'd understand what a well spoken lady Alesha is compared to most of us locals

It's embarrassing when people from foreign countries can speak and spell better that people who were born here.

and it's DEFINITELY not snobbish to expect Alesha to be able to speak English properly when she is nearly 31 years old.

she needs to sort it out.

I am a teacher. Am I allowed to preach too?

Even though it bugs me I think it's unfair to expect Alesha to change the way she naturally speaks. She's under enough scrutiny anyway, she shouldn't have to worry about every word she says.

1) If you know people who come from foreign countries who can speak better than yourself you have answered your own qustion.

2) Language is subjective and always changing. If language was meant to stick to an excact set of rules then we would all still be talking Chaucerian. Do you agree that "LOL" and "BTW" should be outlawed? How about "isn't"? Or "OK"? Or "Kids"? Where do we stop?

And no it's not snobbish. It's elitist. As you have an excellent grasp of the language you will know the difference.

And shouldn't it be "she is in need of sorting it?"

Out of curiosity, what was Deadjacket's question? Was it further back in the thread? I can't find it and I'm a little confused, so I apologise if I'm covering ground here that's already been discussed between the two of you.

Isn't = is not. When used in place of is not, isn't is grammatically correct.

LOL and BTW should not be used in formal writing or in speech so I'm not sure why that's relevant.

OK has been used for several hundred years, with documented usage in the 18th and 19th centuries.

There's a differece between the natural evolution of a language, and just using terrible grammar because you don't know better or you can't be bothered to speak properly.

In my experience, people from other countries can speak better English than many English people. I have a German friend and a Spanish friend who speak perfect English. Their written English is absolutely superb. Their spelling, punctuation and grammar are better than the majority of English people (and probably Welsh and Scottish and Irish, though I have little experience of that).

There are two reasons for that:
1. They learn English academically. They don't learn bad habits from lazy English people who can't be bothered to speak properly or are so uneducated that they never learned how.
2. They aren't afraid to ask for help. In fact, unlike English people who go crazy and act grossly offended when you correct them, my foreign friends LOVE it when I point out where they're wrong. Then they can correct it and learn to speak better.

Very few people are perfect. I'm sure I'm not. I'm sure I make mistakes and I love it when people point them out so that I can learn from them and try to improve. There are certain basic errors that just shouldn't be made, though.

Speakers of other languages who speak English "well" do so because they were taught by someone qualified and with received pronunciation. I am a qualified ESOL teacher but I don't have RP. If someone learns English from me they may well pick up my accent. The "should of" comment came from Craig Kelly, I think, stems from hearing "should've" a lot and assuming that this abbreviates "should of" not "should have", bear in mind in Manchester "of" is pronounced with a sound phonetically called a "scwah" - almost like "er"without much emphasis on the "r".

My friends who speak English learned it in four main ways:
1. From a native German/Spanish speaker who speaks English academically
2. By watching British and American television. They actively studied which parts of their speech were 'correct' and which parts were incorrect or part of their dialects
3. By reading English language books
4. Through talking to me and our other friends online

I blame the Government, education system and the media. How often on television do you see a politician or a television presenter incapable of using a reflexive verb correctly. It has become the norm of saying "myself" instead of "me". It is not Alesha's fault but the society we live in? I was not taught grammar at school and neither, apparently, was she.

I'm available to teach Alesha correct grammar as soon as the BBC decide to hire me

I feel guilty for feeling annoyed at Alesha's grammar! I am another one upon whom it grates )

very interlectual thread isn't it ?

No, it is definitely Alesha's fault. I'm sure she knows what is correct and what isn't, but habits can be hard to break. Alesha is being paid a lot of money to say a few sentences; I think she should make a bit of an effort.

I found it very annoying and I like Alesha (albeit not in the judgeing stakes). I think I found it more grating because she used incorrect grammar so often. It's a very lazy way of speaking and we're seeing/hearing this lazy form of English more and more on television. I would have noticed the poor use of grammar whether it was Alesha, Tess or any of the other people on the show.