OXFORD resident Susie Dent and Guide Dogs are launching the new Powers of Description campaign – following research into how Britain’s fast-paced society is impacting language skills.

Two in three people say modern communication methods such as social media channels are limiting language skills.

Lexicographer Ms Dent, who appears on daytime TV show Countdown, said: “We live in an increasingly visual world, squeezed by media that appreciate a sound bite.”

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She is urging people to use their communication skills and volunteer to become guides with the charity for the blind.

The call to action for the public is to use their powers of description and volunteer to become a My Guide, a sighted guide to someone with sight loss at guidedogs.org.uk.

Guide Dogs (The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association) needs to recruit an extra 4,500 My Guide volunteers by 2023.