B-Berry and I Look Back by Dornford Yates Page A

if someone had been disposed to follow the matter up.”

8
    “I feel,” said Berry, “that a very few words on the English spoken today would not be out of place. And when I say spoken, I mean spoken publicly, particularly on the broadcast and in the House.
    “First, as regards the reading of ‘the news’.
    “I have always felt that, in view of the very high standing of ‘The BBC News’, and of the fact that it is relayed all over the world, not only should the composition of the bulletins be above reproach, but those appointed to read them should be masters of the English tongue. If this would necessitate the employment of a small, special staff, then this should be done. Such a measure would be well worth while, for in a very short time men, women and children all over the world would come to be taught to regard ‘The BBC News’, not only as reliable, but as a model of excellence – fine prose, accurate pronunciation, flawless enunciation and delivery.
    “But, although the composition of the bulletins could be improved, it is the reading of them with which I wish to deal. This is by no means what it was. Stuart Hibberd was impeccable. On all the thousands of occasions on which I listened to his golden voice, I never once heard him fail in any particular. Pronunciation, enunciation, delivery – all were always perfect. The same can by no means be said of his many successors. None enunciate their words as he did. Some make mistakes in pronunciation. I have heard ‘controversy’ pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, and ‘remonstrate’ pronounced with the accent on the first. I have heard ‘formidable’ pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. Only the uneducated made those mistakes when I was young. And pray remember that such solecisms – intolerable in polite conversation – are being received all over the world. Millions of people, who know no better, are going to accept as orthodox those vulgar parodies. I have quoted but three examples, because, to be honest, I can’t remember the others which I have heard: but, though I don’t say that such mistakes are frequent, my point is that not one should ever have occurred. (Oh, I’ve just remembered another – ‘alleging’ with the accent on the first syllable. Can anyone beat that? And yet another – ‘revolt’, with the ‘o’ pronounced not as in ‘jolt’, but as in ‘jolly’.) The enunciation, again, leaves much to be desired, while the impression that the announcer is speaking against time is painfully insistent – an impression which is not only very trying to the ear, but, quite honestly, indefensible. In a word, if an item of news is deemed worthy to be communicated to the world, then let it be presented with dignity.
    “Secondly, as regards public speech.
    “It is too much to expect that the admirable English once spoken in Parliament should distinguish the House of Commons today. And, of course, I can say nothing of the delivery of the speeches made – though I have an uneasy feeling that Winston stands alone. But one grammatical fault, I can expose. It is often to be heard on the floor of the House and in speeches made elsewhere by eminent men.
    “This is, shortly, the use of ‘will’, where ‘shall’ should be used, and of ‘would’, where ‘should’ should be used. I am not going to set out the reasons why the one is right and the other wrong, because, in the first place, I couldn’t do it, and, in the second, Fowler has done it for all time: but this I can say – that if I had made such a mistake at my private school, I should have been immediately corrected. To my mind, it is a matter of instinct.” He looked at Daphne and Jill. “I’m quite sure that neither of you two sweethearts could begin to defend your particular use of these words; but never in all my life have I heard either of you go wrong. In the old days, it was a recognized peculiarity of a Scotsman that he would sometimes say