To Anonymous who wrote the following:
"I think it boils down to present day - we are all becoming very lazy
with grammer and letter writing because we are in such a hurry to get
everything done both in business and in leisure. You only have to look
at the way children use the mobile phone text messages and that says it
all. Who is going to teach proper english (if there will be such a
thing in 30 years when we are shortening all the words in the sentence
for speed, how will today's educated (I choose the word loosley) be
able to teach English in the years ahead?"
Proper English???
Firstly, you should spell "loosley" properly.
May I ask , how exactly you define "proper English"? Did Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton or Austen (for example) speak proper English? I'm sure you would have to say yes - unless you believe you speak or write more eloquently or "properly" than some of the greatest masters of the English language. I am not (of course) speaking about the form of their writing, but their lexicon and syntax (and what we can assume about their pronunciation). Are you also saying that Chaucer and Shakespeare (along with their contemporaries) could not spell? Every language is constantly developing and changing, in every way.
I am still wondering how you define "proper" English? Or should I say when you define "proper" English? Clearly "proper" English must have suddenly occured in the period in which you were educated.