Or, the benefits of a great education.

There are those who hide behind the notion that language is always evolving.

Of course it is. Society is not static, and new generations find themselves communicating in a way that is meaningful for them - and, consciously or not, rebelling against their elders.

We've all been there. In my day it was less about language - although we dropped the slightly soppy stuff like politeness and 'super' and 'dear' and stuck with grunts and sarcasm. So I get it now, that younger people communicate principally on phones and instant messenger sites, and time is short (ironic, as they actually have more of it ahead of them than most of us) so words get abbreviated and - heaven forbid - letters replaced by symbols and numbers.

But that doesn't mean we can just forget about education and the 'right' way to write.

As someone so particular about correct language that I couldn't let a 'desert' on a menu go unmarked, I could never employ or engage in serious dialogue with someone who didn't understand, or wasn't prepared to try at least, the difference between it's and its, there and their, your and you're, and where to put an apostrophe in a plural. Education is as vital now as ever. Community is ever more diverse, and we have to have one common theme, one language, that remains right (and wrong) no matter what. If we all just have a stab at it, we'll all get confused and never get anywhere.

So if you're not sure yourself about copy that is ready to rumble, about a publication going out or how to compose anything for the the most impact, just ask.

There aren't many things I'm better at than most people.

Driving is one.

And, thanks to a fabulously old-fashioned single-sex grammar school education, the English language is the other.