Ender English as we know it

Sixth-form students are analysing Shakespeare in language that is more Albert Square than Antony and Cleopatra, an examiner's report shows.

'Soap-opera descriptions' picked up from EastEnders and Coronation Street are finding their way into a growing number of English papers.

Examples from this year's A and ASlevels include Cleopatra being described as 'high-maintenance'.

Of the same play, another student wrote: 'It's like, yeah, Cleo is a player.'

Hamlet was variously described as 'laid back', a 'mummy's boy' and 'all mouth and no action'.

One student even praised the bard for 'pulling out all the stops'. Despite this, the pass rate for English A-Level rose again this year, to just under 99 per cent.

It is not just the pupils who are at fault, said Dr Bernard Williams, chairman of the Queen's English Society .

Teachers 'wanting to be liked' were increasingly ignoring loose language - and even using it themselves, he added.

However, AQA examiner Anne Barnes defended teachers, saying 'they have to use language that grips the child'.

English is constantly changing, she said. Words and phrases such as 'weird' and 'manic depressive', which would have been considered unacceptable 20 years ago, were now commonplace, she added.