Madam,

It is a long time since I passed my GCE O-level in English language, being that I am now 71 years of age. However, I did manage to achieve a 75 per cent pass mark in 1963, so my command of English was pretty good at the time!

I’m beginning to wonder now has the English language undergone some fundamental changes in meaning over the last 55 years?

The reason I ask is that Isabel Nethell, head of service at the Planning Inspectorate in Wales, has just sent me a letter in which she states: “The Inspectorate does not dispute that in most cases a certificate is required”, but then adds: “The Welsh Government’s advice considered that the legislation does not require for the certificate to be made in writing”.

I am completely bemused by this, so I am seeking assistance from your many thousands of intelligent, erudite readers. Can any of them enlighten me, please?

What is a certificate that is not made in writing? What does it look like? How is it made?

According to my Oxford Modern English Dictionary, a certificate is a “formal document attesting a fact”. Then, my excellent Chambers Concise Dictionary defines it as “a written declaration, official or formal, of some fact”.

In other words, they both agree that a certificate must be in writing.

Isabel Nethell holds a very important job, so it is very worrying when she certifies that “the Welsh Government’s advice considered that the legislation does not require the certificate to be made in writing”. She must be very certain of this certitude or she would not have asserted it with such certainty!

I’m certainly baffled.

Yours etc,

Lyn James Jenkins, Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park, Gwbert, Cardigan.

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