My pet ’ates

WHEN i started my teaching career in Dagenham, essex, the children were terrific.

They had Cockney/estuary accents and it was one of my pet hates that they dropped the ‘h’ in speech and written work, such as ‘i aven’t got my books’. i constantly told them that the letter ‘h’ needs to be said and written.

i obviously got the message through rather too well as they started to say: ‘We went to hour Granny’s for tea.’

i moved to Buckinghamshire, and though only 60 miles away, i found the children had a different problem with the word ‘our’.

Because of the rural accent, they said: ‘We went to are Granny’s for tea.’ oh well, you can’t win them all! EVE BERRY, Chalgrove, Oxon. THE re-instatement of the letter ‘t’ in everyday speech (Letters) would bring music to the ears. inni’.

BUD LEECH, Cheshunt, Herts. i, Too, bemoan the loss of the letter ‘ t’. But spare a thought for ‘g’, which seems to have been replaced by ‘k’ as in ‘anythink’ and ‘somethink’.

KATE WHITE, Rugby, Warks. HOW i agree with the criticism of Tv presenters’ bad grammar (Letters).

i wince when i hear ‘i done’ instead of ‘i did’ and ‘we was’ instead of ‘we were’. JENNY CATCHPOLE, Great Kimble, Bucks. COULD someone tell Tv star Bradley Walsh the difference between was and were?

i cringe every time he gets it wrong on The Chase.

Mrs EUNICE BIRCH, York.