Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall
Yes because once people no longer have the collective understanding of the semi-colon, English will of course unravel and die out. 
This happens all the time, people worry about the language crumbling and tearing apart at the seems when it well.. isn't it. It's just change, not decay. Change does not mean standards are getting worse, they're just shifting.
300 years ago, there were two different types of 's' that had to be written depending on word. Do you suppose that the loss of that grammatical rule is a sign of grammar standards worsening too? |
Speaking as someone who gets through quite a lot of work experience placements, I'd have to say that sadly, change does sometimes mean standards are slipping. When you employ an intern who's just graduated or about to graduate, and they can't write a basic letter, using good spelling, punctuation and grammar, then you have to accept the fact that standards are much lower now than they were when I graduated, and in the scheme of things, that wasn't that long ago.