Reading skills - PRINCE IN ROW AFTER COUNCIL LAUNCH SPEECH

     Prince Charles who is vice-chairman of the Council and official patron of the English 2000 project, accused American English of being 'corrupting'.

     'People tend to invent all sorts of nouns and verbs, and make words that shouldn't be,' he said. 'I think we have to be a bit careful, otherwise the whole thing can get rather a mess.'

     The comments were made after his March 23 launch address and attracted a hard-hitting rebuke* in the next day's London's Evening Standard which called the Prince's defence 'a stuffy* and rather charmless attack on American speech'.

     The editorial comment argued: 'It is ungenerous not to acknowledge the vigour* and power of American speech, which has revitalised English language and literature since the war.'

     But the Standard did concede*: 'The Prince's remarks were addressed to a specific audience of professionals faced with overseas competition marketing American English as an equivalent, alternative language, and there is nothing wrong with robustly* standing up for our native tongue'.

     A spokesman for the Prince of Wales told the Gazette that remarks about the American language were made while chatting to members of the audience when asked to elaborate on comments in his speech.

     'The Prince loves the English language and is keen to see it develop but is anxious that it should develop in a positive way,' the spokesman said.

     At the launch Prince Charles also announced the British Council's arrival on the Internet with the 'E2000' pages and revealed plans for a global questionnaire on the future of English.
 

launch - start; to rebuke - to express sharp or severe disapproval; stuffy - formal and old-fashioned; vigour - physical and mental energy and enthusiasm; to concede - to admit unwillingly that it is true; robustly - strongly.
 

Fill in the gaps with proper words that suit the content of the text. The words should not be necessarily taken from the text. Use one or two words only.
 

     The Prince of Wales the American language while the British Council's new project on the English language - English 2000. He was  with the influence of American English in Britain because people started words that shouldn't be used. He admitted that if the situation remains unchanged it will cause some . The comments made by the  were criticised by London's Evening Standard, the editorial of which the American English.

     A spokesman for the Prince of Wales stressed that the Prince the English language and was  about its development.