The English language has been Americanised, complains Penelope Keith

The Good Life star Penelope Keith is furious about the poor use of the English language in modern Britain.

The actress believes our lives are diminished by poor elocution and grammar, reports the Telegraph.

Real conversation has been replaced by text messages and social networking websites and television pampers to our thirst for public humiliation, says Keith.

Keith, who became a household name in the 1970s sitcom playing Margot Leadbetter, the suburban social climber with the plummy accent, worries that, with the decline of “old-fashioned” things such as grammar and elocution, good manners are disappearing, too.

The misunderstanding of everyday words, the creeping Americanisation of our “wonderful” language, which she says has now affected the once-impervious BBC.

And the popularity of social networking websites such as Twitter has, she concludes, contributed to the growing “misuse” of English.