Steps in, shaken, to limit new English incompetence (9)
I believe the answer is:
ineptness
'incompetence' is the definition.
(ineptness is a kind of incompetence)
'steps in shaken to limit new english' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'in' is found in the answer.
'new' could be 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament) and 'n' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'steps' is 'ptess' which is located in the remaining letters.
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation) and 'e' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ineptness that I've seen before include "Clumsiness, lack of skill" , "Awkwardness, clumsiness" , "Lack of suitability" .)