Letter: Why is everything made into a question?

Letter: There is an increasing tendency among the young to use the rising inflection. This is when a speaker, by raising their voice at the end of a sentence, turns a straight forward statement into a question.

For example "My girlfriend thinks Nick Clegg is dishy? I think he's a wimp?"

The Americans and the Australians are the worst but we are catching up fast.

It really puts my teeth on edge, especially when prefaced with "hopefully", as in "Hopefully, scientists will solve all our climate problems?"

It has been suggested, only half-joking, that the rising inflection became popular with babyboomers in the 1960s/70s when they lost God and took to rock music, marijuana and sociology.

The use of the rising inflection is so widespread among the under 30s that they must have regularly used it in class. Yet it doesn't seem as if teachers and academics corrected them, not even those who teach English, the very people who should care about the way our language is spoken. After all, it is this country's greatest glory.

Of course we mustn't correct or criticise the young today must we? It might give them a complex for life.

It isn't just the irritating rising inflection; Everyday our beautiful language is mangled and manipulated not just by the young but also by politicians, bureaucrats, organisations, corporations, council officials, ad men, PR people, the red tops, DJs, broadcasters, e-mail users, et al.

If I vandalised a work of art or defaced a war memorial I would, rightly, be severely punished, but the above abusers devalue the English language on a daily basis and get away with.

Sidney Evans

Chirk