My View: Time that the 'youff' of today had a few English lessons

Their constant "likes" and "innits" have finally proved too much for the Oscar-winning actress, who has accused them of sounding stupid.

Well, the Cambridge-educated actress does have a point. It now seems that Vicky Pollard has taken up residence in most secondary schools – much to the angst of parents and teachers alike.

The way teenagers speak will (and always has) annoyed their parents – it is one of the reasons they do it. The other reason is to fit in with their peers. But it's when

this teenage language becomes their only language that the problems begin.

Research published earlier this year revealed that some teenagers are becoming unemployable because they limit themselves

to a working vocabulary of only

800 words.

Although they could often understand thousands of words, they restricted themselves to a linguistic range consisting mainly of made-up words and "teenspeak" – which has developed through modern communication methods such as text messaging and social networking sites.

When I was a teenager, I remember my mum constantly chastising me for repeatedly saying "you know" at the end, and often in the middle of a sentence. "No. I don't know," was her response.

Today's teenagers' use of "innit" is just a modern-day version of that.

But I have, hopefully, progressed into being able to string together more coherent sentences, without the need for these superfluous and meaningless words.

The concern is that the current generation does not seem to be able to communicate in any other way than "teenspeak", although what is there to say that my parents didn't feel the same way about me?

We have to allow teenagers to have freedom to

express themselves, while at the same time equipping them with the tools to communicate effectively,

whatever the situation.

Language does evolve; that's what makes it so exciting, but teenagers need to be aware that in order to get on, they do have to be able to communicate with more than just their peer group.

Even now, I adapt my language to whom (or is it who?) I am speaking. The way I speak with a group of friends at the pub differs to how I speak with my mother-in-law, and the way I speak to my boss is different to the way I speak to my husband – we learn at an early age to be chameleons, adapting to the situations in which we find ourselves.

Meanwhile, as Ms Thompson writes a new screen version of My Fair Lady, I doubt her Henry Higgins will have to contend with "likes" and "innits" as he saunters along the plains in Spain.