What will the future be for a society of people with poor grammatical skills (especially spelling)?

Answer 1

Good question. Language useage may be perceived to reflect differences in education and ethnicity, lack of personal discipline and caring, and whether rightly or wrongly, the perception of intelligence. These factors have long been used to "segregate" people and to create social class differences.

Though language tends to evolve and the spelling of words may shift over time, those who can't communicate clearly will be at a disadvantage socially and economically, which in turn may have an effect on society.

On an individual basis, people may be very intelligent, but if they can't speak or write clearly, they will have to work harder to prove their credibility and trust. Just my thought!

Answer 2

Considering that "correct spelling" is a modern invention and that Chaucer spelled some words as many as 15 different ways, I would say that spelling is not the mark of the future of a society. Middle English had no spelling rules and people just wrote the way they talked, but England still evolved into the greatest power on the planet in the 18th and 19th centuries and gave birth to the United States which is the greatest power on the planet in the 20th and 21st centuries. So if Chaucer's spelling in the 14th century is any indication, that society has a bright future.

Answer 3

You seem like a drama class professor to me.
Nothing will happen to society, even though half the people in Yahoo Answers (and I don't include foreign language speaking people) know nothing about grammar. Grammatical skills do not make people good, or wise, or humanitarian.
Anyway, something will happen to language in the future. It will change. But American English has moved away from British English ever since independence. Some words (seen here in Y!A) now used only by very young people will stick because languages are alive. So no fear pal, that's not the 666.

Answer 4

As an English teacher, I have a certain proclivity for correct grammar and spelling. For the number of years I have taught, I have yet to see a 'bad' speller suddenly become a good one. Thank God we have dictionaries and thesaures'. We are a society of people who have unfortunately become lazy as more and more technology is introduced. We have spell check when we type, so who cares if someone can't spell? Even grammar can be checked - I do care because I honestly believe the skills of writing, reading, basic math, spelling, etiquette/manners, ability to garden and grow ones own foods (including canning, etc.) which have gone by the wayside, are skills that are going to come back and haunt us. We are too dependant upon modern technology to work for us.

Answer 5

Unfortunately, we're looking at them becoming the leaders of nations. Why, when a secretary or p/c spell-checker can do it for you, would you go to all the trouble to learn grammar, sentence structure, parallelism, or something as simple as spelling. It's a sad thought, but people (kids in the newest generations in general) don't have to work to achieve anything these days.

Answer 6

I imagine the future will be very similar to the present. I think bad spellers that choose not to use all the spell checks are just lazy and those people will never go very far.

Answer 7

Before the printing press and widespread access to written materials, spelling was hardly standardized. Humankind will continue to overrun and destroy the earth just fine with or without decent spelling and grammar.

Answer 8

Telemarketers. Unfortunately.

Answer 9

Language is fluid. What matters is effective communication. It doesn't matter if we spell it "phone" or "fone" as long as everyone knows what we mean.

Answer 10

eye used hukked on phonecs and it wurked fer me