51³Ô¹Ï

Felipe Fern¨¢ndez-Armesto is annoyed by students¡¯ ignorance of their own language (¡°Irrevocably tongue-tied¡±, Opinion, 22 May): they submit essays riddled with repetition, clich¨¦s, jargon and the horrors of syntactical disfigurement. He would like to see ¨C across disciplines ¨C ¡°clarity, concision and accuracy in the use of English¡±.

But if students are to write precisely with a?¡°love of language¡±, don¡¯t they need to find some topic related to their university subject about which they care greatly? I guess the lucky ones fall head over heels with almost everything on the syllabus.

Neil Richardson
Kirkheaton, West Yorkshire