When I was a little girl, and even into my teenage years, I was often told I was wise beyond my years. Not only did I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, but I was also quite passionate about the English language; which shone through in both my written and spoken expression.

While many would see this as a gift, or a talent, those closest to me became annoyed. Parents, siblings and other kids at school, all yelled at me when I corrected their poor English.

My sister always used to say "somethingk". I always told her that "something" is not spelt with a "k" on the end. My writing and spelling was always of a very high standard. I took pride in my spelling and respected the English language. Simple errors like "to" and "too", "of" and "off", "there", "their" and "they're" - all became pet hates of mine. Today, more often you see people who do not know the difference between "then" and "than". How anyone could stuff that up, I just don't know.

So anyway, the few compliments I got from teachers on my literary abilities were no match for a gruelling society. My constant corrections of others, and annoyance at their lack of effort, resulted in me being verbally and socially ostracised. My mother was probably one of the main contenders, constantly telling me that I "think too much", and snubbing her nose at me when I corrected her grammar or spelling. My sister was the same. Her spelling was quite terrible, and she used to try to hide her homework from me so that I would not correct it.

Eventually I got sick of being treated like I was some sort of terrible person, and I ended up trying really hard to "dumb myself down". It may have worked in enabling me to fit in better with people, but today it is something I regret having had to do. I still have the same respect for the English language and I hate seeing it butchered.

A little while ago I plucked up the courage to mention to someone that their entire paragraph had no punctuation whatsoever. The response I got was "this isn't an English lesson". I replied to that with, "No, but it IS meant to be English!"

I don't believe that respecting language and aiming to be a good communicator should be things someone is made to feel ashamed of. As native English speakers, we should all be doing our best to use language correctly. It is downright embarrassing seeing a foreigner, whose second or third language is English, speaking and writing English better than the native speakers!

So, no more. I am drawing the line. From now on I will speak and write perfect English, and I will not be swayed by people who do not feel comfortable with this. I am not wrong to be using the English language correctly, and it does not make me a bad person. It makes me a smart person, and hopefully, a good communicator.